Technical Lead Manager, Physical AI

Technical Lead Manager, Physical AI

San Francisco, CA

Scale AI is the data engine for the entire AI industry. Our mission is to accelerate the development of AI applications by providing organizations with the high-quality data they need. The Physical AI team at Scale is focused on the next frontier: building general AI that can reason and act in the physical world. By leveraging Scale's massive data infrastructure, we are helping frontier labs build Foundation Models for Physical AI that will redefine the future of automation.

Role Overview

As the Technical Lead Manager (TLM) for the Physical AI team of Scale, you will bridge the gap between cutting-edge Machine Learning research and physical robot deployment. You will lead a high-performing team of Research Engineers while remaining a hands-on technical contributor (~60% of your time).

Your primary focus will be the development and evaluation of Large-Scale Foundation Models (e.g VLAs, World models) that allow robots and AVs to generalize across diverse tasks, environments, and morphologies.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Research

• Model Scaling: Direct research into scaling laws for Physical AI, determining how to best utilize massive datasets for pre-training and fine-tuning generalist policies.
• VLA and World model development: Develop novel methods for developing and evaluating models, including new Physical AI industry benchmarks
• Hands-on Modeling: Actively write code to implement, train and test SOTA architectures. Conduct research on Physical AI data collection, cross-embodiment training, and policy fine-tuning.
• Data Strategy: Collaborate with internal labeling teams to design "robotic-native" data pipelines, including the use of VLMs for automated trajectory annotation and data synthesis.
• Collaborate closely with customers to drive the industry forward in using Scale data

Team Management & Execution

• Mentorship: Lead and grow a team of 4-6 elite Physical AI researchers, fostering a culture of high-velocity experimentation and rigorous evaluation.
• Paper-to-Product: Translate the latest research from NeurIPS, ICRA, and CVPR into production-ready features for Scale's Physical AI partners.
• Cross-functional Alignment: Work with cross-functional teams (e.g Product and Operations) to bring our research breakthroughs into production.

Required Qualifications

AI/ML Excellence

• Deep Learning Mastery: Expert-level proficiency in PyTorch, with deep knowledge of Transformer architectures, Attention mechanisms, and Self-Supervised Learning.
• VLM/VLA Experience: Proven track record of working with Vision-Language Models (e.g., CLIP, PaLM-E) and adapting them for spatial reasoning or embodied tasks.
• Generative AI: Experience with Diffusion Models for sequence generation or Generative World Models for predictive modeling.

Physical AI & Software Background

• Embodied AI: Strong understanding of Physical AI stack, including imitation learning, reinforcement learning (RL), and multi-modal sensor fusion.
• Infrastructure: Experience with large-scale distributed training across GPU clusters and high-performance data loading.
• Leadership: 1+ years of experience leading technical teams or projects in a research-intensive environment.

Nice to Haves

• Publication Record: First-author publications at top-tier AI/ML conferences (NeurIPS, CVPR, ICRA, CoRL).
• Hardware Generalization: Experience building models that work across different robot types (arms, mobile bases, humanoids).
• Sim-to-Real: Experience with high-fidelity simulators (e.g., Isaac Gym, MuJoCo) and the nuances of physical domain adaptation.

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of San Francisco is:

$248,800 - $311,000 USD

PLEASE NOTE: Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us:

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at View email address on click.appcast.io. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.

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