Physical AI Architect

Job Description

Job Description

At Pickle Robot, we're on a mission to automate global supply chains with Physical AI. Our robots work alongside warehouse teams to unload trucks and containers — one of the toughest, most understaffed jobs in logistics — making the work safer, faster, and more efficient for the people doing it.  Loading trucks comes next, followed by the Dill Autonomy Engine: generalized autonomy that will eventually orchestrate robots across entire logistics processes.

We're looking for a dynamic and driven Physical AI Architect to revolutionize the future of warehouse automation. This is a senior technical role for someone who is equal parts deep practitioner and pragmatic builder — someone who understands the theoretical underpinnings of diffusion-based models and optimal control, and has the track record to prove they can ship these systems into production hardware. You'll serve as the technical authority on how modern AI approaches translate into real robot behavior, bringing research-grade methods to the reliability and performance demands of high-throughput logistics.

If you measure success in deployed systems rather than papers, this role is for you.

• Serve as the technical architect for Pickle Robot's Physical AI stack, owning the end-to-end design of perception, planning, and control systems deployed on production hardware.

• Lead the application of diffusion-based policy learning and optimal control techniques to robot manipulation and picking tasks, with a focus on real-world reliability and cycle time performance.

• Drive hardware integration efforts across sensors, compute, and actuators — ensuring AI systems are co-designed with the physical platform from the ground up.

• Define the technical roadmap for how diffusion models and optimal control complement each other in Pickle Robot's autonomy architecture, and build internal alignment around that vision.

• Partner with firmware, mechanical, and software engineering teams to ensure AI design decisions are grounded in hardware constraints and operational realities.

• Identify and resolve performance bottlenecks at the intersection of model inference, motion execution, and hardware throughput.

• Mentor senior engineers and help grow the technical depth of the broader autonomy team.

• Demonstrated track record of shipping AI-powered systems to production — we want to hear about systems you've deployed, not just prototyped
• MS or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent demonstrated expertise
• Deep subject matter expertise in diffusion models applied to robot learning (e.g., diffusion policies, score-based generative models for behavior cloning or planning), plus strong command of optimal control theory and practice (MPC, trajectory optimization, feedback control) — and the architectural judgment to combine both effectively
• Hands-on experience with hardware integration: sensor pipelines (RGB-D, force/torque, encoders), embedded compute (NVIDIA Jetson, ARM SoCs, FPGAs), and actuator interfaces
• Proficiency in Python and C++; familiarity with ROS 2 or equivalent robotics middleware
• Experience with real-time systems constraints and the performance tradeoffs of deploying learned models on robot hardware
• Strong systems-level thinking — you design for maintainability, observability, and failure modes, not just peak performance
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to drive technical decisions across cross-functional teams

At Pickle Robot Company, we believe transparency builds trust. The salary range listed here is provided in accordance with Massachusetts law and reflects what we reasonably and in good faith expect to offer for this role. We often consider candidates at different levels of seniority, and final compensation will reflect the level at which a candidate is hired, along with factors like experience and location.

Pickle provides best-in-class benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance; unlimited vacation; paid federal and state holidays; 401(k) contributions of 5% of your salary; company-covered travel expenses; and other perks to make your working life more fun, comfortable, and productive. 

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.