Senior Research Engineer (Humanoid Manipulation)

Location: Boston, MA, United States; on-site

Salary: $70,000–$300,000 per year

Company

hirify.global develops risk-aware, reliable, field-ready AI and robotics systems for unstructured real-world environments.

What you will do

• Design, implement, and evaluate manipulation strategies for humanoid robots across diverse tasks.
• Drive projects from early concepts through on-robot testing, field validation, and deployment.
• Develop loco-manipulation capabilities integrating perception, planning, and control.
• Translate research ideas into robust, reproducible robotic systems aligned with data collection and learning objectives.
• Build experimental infrastructure for rapid iteration and evaluation.
• Collaborate with research scientists, software, mechanical, and electrical engineers, teleoperators, field teams, and product partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field.
• 4+ years of hands-on experience in robotic manipulation in academic or industry settings.
• Strong foundation in robot kinematics, dynamics, and control, with a focus on manipulation.
• Proven experience implementing and evaluating robotic systems on real hardware.
• Ability to work effectively in fast-paced, highly collaborative environments.
• Curiosity, ownership, and confidence to challenge assumptions and propose new approaches.

Nice to have

• Experience with humanoid robots or multi-fingered robotic hands.
• Experience with learning-based manipulation, imitation learning, or reinforcement learning.
• Familiarity with teleoperation systems and human-in-the-loop data collection.
• Publications or open-source contributions in top robotics venues.
• Experience with large-scale robotics data collection and dataset management.

Culture & Benefits

• Work with a multidisciplinary R&D organization focused on real-world robotics deployment.
• Collaborate across Boston, Southern California, the United States, and global teams.
• Contribute to robotics foundation models focused on explainability, safety, perception, planning, localization, and manipulation.
• Inclusive environment with equal-opportunity employment practices.