Scales Physical AI business unit is dedicated to solving the data bottleneck across Robotics Autonomous Vehicles and Computer Vision. This position will be a key contributor in conducting applied research in Physical AI and developing ML pipelines for processing training and fine-tuning on data collected by Scale with a specific focus on optimizing algorithms and pipelines to run efficiently on GPUs in the this role you will have the opportunity to advance research shape Scales offerings and expand the frontier of data and model evaluation for Physical AI.
The Role
As an ML Systems Engineer on the Physical AI team you will design and build platforms for scalable reliable and efficient serving of foundation models specifically tailored for physical agents. Our platform powers cutting-edge research and production systems supporting both internal research discovery and external customer use cases for autonomous vehicles and robotics.
The ideal candidate combines strong ML fundamentals with deep expertise in backend system design. Youll work in a highly collaborative environment bridging the gap between Physical AI research and production engineering to accelerate innovation across the company.
You Will:
- Build & Scale: Maintain fault-tolerant high-performance systems for serving robotics-related models and foundation models at scale ensuring low latency for real-time applications.
- Platform Development: Build an internal platform to empower model capability discovery enabling faster iteration cycles for research teams working on robotics.
- Collaborate: Work closely with Robotics researchers and Computer Vision engineers to integrate and optimize models for production and research environments.
- Design Excellence: Conduct architecture and design reviews to uphold best practices in system scalability reliability and security.
- Observability: Develop monitoring and observability solutions to ensure system health and real-time performance tracking of model inference.
- Lead: Own projects end-to-end from requirements gathering to implementation in a fast-paced cross-functional environment.
Ideally Youd Have:
- Experience: 4 years of experience building large-scale high-performance backend systems with deep experience in machine learning infrastructure.
- Algorithm Optimization: Deep experience optimizing computer vision and other machine learning algorithms for cloud environments including GPU-level algorithm optimizations (e.g. CUDA kernel tuning).
- Programming: Strong skills in one or more systems-level languages (e.g. Python Go Rust C).
- Systems Fundamentals: Deep understanding of serving and routing fundamentals (e.g. rate limiting load balancing compute budgets concurrency) for data-intensive applications.
- Infrastructure: Experience with containers (Docker) orchestration (Kubernetes) and cloud providers (AWS/GCP).
- IaC: Familiarity with infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform).
- Mindset: Proven ability to solve complex problems and work independently in fast-moving environments.
Nice to Haves:
- Exposure to Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models.
- Knowledge of high-performance video processing (e.g. FFmpeg NVDEC/NVENC) or 3D data handling (point clouds).
- Familiarity with robotics middleware (e.g. ROS/ROS2) or AV data formats.
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 determined by work location and additional factors including job-related skills experience 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. Youll 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:
$218400 - $273000 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 worlds most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the worlds 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 Cisco DLA Piper 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 marital status 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 Please see the United States Department of Labors Know Your Rights poster for additional information.
We comply with the United States Department of Labors Pay Transparency provision.
PLEASE NOTE: We collect retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants needs provide our services and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our for additional information.
Required Experience:
IC
Scales Physical AI business unit is dedicated to solving the data bottleneck across Robotics Autonomous Vehicles and Computer Vision. This position will be a key contributor in conducting applied research in Physical AI and developing ML pipelines for processing training and fine-tuning on data coll...
Scales Physical AI business unit is dedicated to solving the data bottleneck across Robotics Autonomous Vehicles and Computer Vision. This position will be a key contributor in conducting applied research in Physical AI and developing ML pipelines for processing training and fine-tuning on data collected by Scale with a specific focus on optimizing algorithms and pipelines to run efficiently on GPUs in the this role you will have the opportunity to advance research shape Scales offerings and expand the frontier of data and model evaluation for Physical AI.
The Role
As an ML Systems Engineer on the Physical AI team you will design and build platforms for scalable reliable and efficient serving of foundation models specifically tailored for physical agents. Our platform powers cutting-edge research and production systems supporting both internal research discovery and external customer use cases for autonomous vehicles and robotics.
The ideal candidate combines strong ML fundamentals with deep expertise in backend system design. Youll work in a highly collaborative environment bridging the gap between Physical AI research and production engineering to accelerate innovation across the company.
You Will:
- Build & Scale: Maintain fault-tolerant high-performance systems for serving robotics-related models and foundation models at scale ensuring low latency for real-time applications.
- Platform Development: Build an internal platform to empower model capability discovery enabling faster iteration cycles for research teams working on robotics.
- Collaborate: Work closely with Robotics researchers and Computer Vision engineers to integrate and optimize models for production and research environments.
- Design Excellence: Conduct architecture and design reviews to uphold best practices in system scalability reliability and security.
- Observability: Develop monitoring and observability solutions to ensure system health and real-time performance tracking of model inference.
- Lead: Own projects end-to-end from requirements gathering to implementation in a fast-paced cross-functional environment.
Ideally Youd Have:
- Experience: 4 years of experience building large-scale high-performance backend systems with deep experience in machine learning infrastructure.
- Algorithm Optimization: Deep experience optimizing computer vision and other machine learning algorithms for cloud environments including GPU-level algorithm optimizations (e.g. CUDA kernel tuning).
- Programming: Strong skills in one or more systems-level languages (e.g. Python Go Rust C).
- Systems Fundamentals: Deep understanding of serving and routing fundamentals (e.g. rate limiting load balancing compute budgets concurrency) for data-intensive applications.
- Infrastructure: Experience with containers (Docker) orchestration (Kubernetes) and cloud providers (AWS/GCP).
- IaC: Familiarity with infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform).
- Mindset: Proven ability to solve complex problems and work independently in fast-moving environments.
Nice to Haves:
- Exposure to Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models.
- Knowledge of high-performance video processing (e.g. FFmpeg NVDEC/NVENC) or 3D data handling (point clouds).
- Familiarity with robotics middleware (e.g. ROS/ROS2) or AV data formats.
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 determined by work location and additional factors including job-related skills experience 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. Youll 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:
$218400 - $273000 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 worlds most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the worlds 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 Cisco DLA Piper 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 marital status 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 Please see the United States Department of Labors Know Your Rights poster for additional information.
We comply with the United States Department of Labors Pay Transparency provision.
PLEASE NOTE: We collect retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants needs provide our services and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our for additional information.
Required Experience:
IC
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