Research Scientist, Robotics Research - PhD New College Grad 2026

NVIDIA, US, WA, Seattle

The role

The Seattle Robotics Lab has led many influential works that have been presented at top robotics, AI, and computer vision conferences; these works include BayesSim, cuRobo, DeXtreme, DiSECT, Factory, GraspNet, ITPS, MimicGen, RVT, and SHAC. (See our publications page for a complete list.) The work has deeply impacted the research community and NVIDIA products, including Isaac Sim, Isaac Lab, and Isaac Manipulator. Furthermore, SRL collaborates closely with other research and engineering teams to advance and use the Cosmos and GR00T-N foundation models, as well as the Newton physics simulation engine.

The team is targeting several grand challenges in robotics and is aiming to achieve never-before-seen capabilities within 2-3 years. We are looking for research scientists to play a pivotal role in these efforts. These scientists must have outstanding research and engineering skills, a proven research track record, strong supporting references, and a team-first approach.

All jobs

Research Scientist, Robotics Research - PhD New College Grad 2026

NVIDIA, US, WA, Seattle

The role

What you need

Completing a PhD in Robotics, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
A strong research track record, with work published in top robotics and AI conferences and journals such as RSS, CoRL, ICRA, IROS, IJRR, T-RO, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, and EMNLP.
Exceptional programming skills in Python, as well as proficiency in modern deep learning frameworks (PyTorch or JAX), robotics frameworks (ROS or ROS2), and physics simulation frameworks (Isaac Sim/Lab or MuJoCo). Familiarity with C++, CUDA, and Warp is a plus.
Exceptional communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills, with significant experience working on teams.
Comfort in working through the complexities of simulation and real-world robotics, including debugging physics simulators and renderers under rapid development; selecting, setting up, maintaining, and enhancing complex robotics hardware; debugging real-world communication systems; and designing robust workflows for model training and evaluation.

The following research areas and applications are of particular interest

Bimanual and dexterous manipulation
Mobile manipulation and humanoid loco-manipulation
Multisensory perception (e.g., vision, tactile, and force/torque sensing)
Simulation, sim-to-real, and real-to-sim
Vision-language-action (VLA) models, including architectural advancements, large-scale training, and test-time reasoning
Industrial applications, such as bin-picking, kitting, and assembly

The Seattle Robotics Lab is now located in a brand-new office in the vibrant Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and other objective job-related factors. The expected base salary range for this position is 168,000 USD – 264,500 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until November 3, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

Research Scientist, Robotics Research - PhD New College Grad 2026

The role

Research Scientist, Robotics Research - PhD New College Grad 2026

The role

What you will do

What you need

The following research areas and applications are of particular interest

About NVIDIA

Similar jobs at other companies

Research Scientist, Mobile Manipulation Robotics (I/O)

Research Scientist, Robotics & AI

Research Scientist

Research Scientist Intern, Humanoid Control & Dexterous Manipulation (PhD)

Senior Robotics Engineer

Founding Research Scientist

NVIDIA