World Model Research Scientist- Physical AI
Share
Job Location:
Mountain View, CA - USA
Monthly Salary:
$ 180000 - 240000
Posted on:
3 days ago
Vacancies:
1 Vacancy
Job Summary
Kodiak Robotics Inc. was founded in 2018 and has become a leader in autonomous ground transportation committed to a safer and more efficient future for all. The company has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) powered technology stack purpose-built for commercial trucking and the public sector. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the southern United States using its autonomous 2024 Kodiak became the first known company to publicly announce delivering a driverless semi-truck to a customer. Kodiak is also leveraging its commercial self-driving software to develop test and deploy autonomous capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Kodiak is building AI that doesnt just perceive the world it learns how the physics of the world works. We are developing large-scale generative world models that learn to predict realistic physically consistent futures from real-world sensor data. This capability serves as the foundation for scalable closed-loop training validation and long-tail scenario generation and is distilled into the onboard models that drive our autonomous trucks. We are looking for a research scientist to lead the design and development of world models capable of generating multi-sensor multi-view temporally coherent driving scenarios conditioned on actions 3D scene context and text.
In this role you will:
- Design and train generative world models that synthesize realistic multi-camera video and LiDAR conditioned on ego trajectories 3D scene context and text
- Research and implement conditional diffusion architectures for driving including spatiotemporal attention latent space design and action-conditioned generation
- Develop techniques for multi-view geometric consistency in generated outputs drawing on neural rendering cross-view attention and 3D-aware generative approaches
- Build methods for joint multimodal generation that maintain cross-sensor consistency between camera LiDAR and radar outputs
- Design evaluation frameworks that measure world model quality beyond pixel-level metrics including scenario fidelity and autoregressive stability
- Scale training pipelines to learn from thousands of hours of real-world driving data across multiple sensor modalities
What youll bring:
- MS or PhD in Computer Science AI Robotics or a related field with a focus on generative modeling neural rendering or video synthesis
- Strong publication record or demonstrated research contributions in diffusion models video generation neural radiance fields 3D-aware generative models or world models
- Experience with neural rendering and view synthesis and an understanding of multi-view geometric consistency
- Proficiency working with multimodal sensor data (camera LiDAR radar) and familiarity with 3D representations such as BEV grids voxel fields or tri-planes
- Strong implementation skills in Python and PyTorch with experience training large generative models at scale using distributed training
- Passion for building AI that understands and predicts the physical world to enable safe autonomous driving
What We Offer:
- Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
- Excellent Medical Dental and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente Cigna and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
- MetLife Legal Services Identity & Fraud Protection Hospital Indemnity Insurance Accident Insurance & Critical Illness Insurance
- Flexible PTO 10 paid holidays and generous parental leave policies
- Our office is centrally located in Mountain View CA
- Office perks: dog-friendly free catered lunch a fully stocked kitchen and free EV charging
- Long Term Disability Short Term Disability Life Insurance
- Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna Calm through Kaiser One Medical Gympass Spring Health through Cigna Rula (mental health navigation)
- Fidelity 401(k)
- Commuter FSA Dependent Care FSA HSA
- Various incentive programs (referral bonuses patent bonuses etc.)
The pay range listed below reflects the base salaryin our SF/Silicon Valley locationacross several internal levels. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors including: work location experience relevant training education skill level and performance during interview. Total compensation at Kodiak includes base pay equity bonus and a competitive benefits package
California Pay Range
$180000 - $240000 USD
At Kodiak we strive to build a diverse community working towards our common company goals in a safe and collaborative environment where harassment of any kind is strictly prohibited. Kodiak is committed to equal opportunity employment regardless of race ethnicity religion gender identity sexual orientation age disability or veteran status or any other basis protected by applicable law.
In alignment with its business operations Kodiak adheres to all relevant statutes regulations and administrative prerequisites. Accordingly roles that carry more sensitive requirements may be limited to candidates that can satisfy additional scrutiny and eligibility for such positions may hinge on verification of a candidates residence U.S. person status and/or citizenship status. Should the position require and Kodiak determines that a candidates residence U.S. person status and/or citizenship status necessitate an export license bar the candidate from the position or otherwise fall under national security-related restrictions Kodiak will consider the candidate for alternative positions unaffected by such restrictions under terms and conditions set forth at Kodiaks sole discretion or as an alternative opt not to proceed with the candidates application. If applicable Kodiak may provide visa sponsorship for eligible candidates.
We use a third-party AI tool (Endorsed) to assist in the initial screening of applications. As part of the evaluation process we provide Endorsed with job requirements and candidate-submitted applications. Final hiring decisions are made by our human recruitment team and no automated system makes the ultimate decision regarding hiring. Certain features of the platform may qualify it as an Automated Employment Decision Tool (AEDT) under applicable regulations. We began using Endorsed on January 1 2026. You can review the independent bias audit report covering our use of Endorsed here( By submitting your application you acknowledge that your application may be processed by AI systems as part of the screening and selection process. If you have any questions or would like to request a separate review of your application please contact with Separate Review Request in the email subject line.
Required Experience:
IC
