Toyota Research Institute · 20 hours ago
Senior Research Scientist, Large Behavior Models
Cambridge, MA
Full-time
Hybrid
Mid, Senior Level
$216K/yr - $324K/yr
4+ years expToyota Research Institute (TRI) is on a mission to improve the quality of human life through innovative robotics and machine learning. The Senior Research Scientist will lead efforts in developing general-purpose robots by implementing advanced machine learning techniques to optimize robot behavior and collaborating with top academic institutions to drive pioneering research.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)AutomotiveConsumer ResearchMachine LearningProduct Research
Responsibilities
Work as part of a dynamic, closely-knit research team building useful robots and general-purpose robot foundation models
Implement, extend, and create innovative methods for robot behavior learning from a mixture of interactive embodied data and online data sources
Design and implement high-performance machine-learning pipelines and optimize data and learning stacks for scalability, efficiency, and performance
Be a key member of the team and play a critical role in rapid progress measured by both the development of internal capabilities and high-impact external publication
Collaborate with internal research scientists and our partner labs at top academic research universities including MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, Columbia, and Princeton to drive pioneering research at scale
Qualification
Required
4+ years of relevant industry experience or a PhD
Experience training large models and deploying them on embodied systems
Strong software development skills in Python, familiarity with mixed C++/Python codebases, and a focus on clean, maintainable code
Extensive experience with Machine Learning using a major framework such as PyTorch or TensorFlow. Familiarity with data pipelines, model serving and optimization, cloud training, and dataset management
Strong understanding of the state-of-the-art in robot learning, including vision-language-action (VLA) models, reinforcement learning, and/or computer vision
Practical experience with robots and the system integration challenges inherent in conducting research and deploying onto physical hardware platforms
An ability to adapt quickly and switch between modes of rapid prototyping and robust implementation as required
A consistent track record of impact, either via first author research publications at top-tier machine learning or robotics conferences (RSS, NeuRIPS, ICML, ICLR, CoRL, ICRA, IROS, …), or via relevant contributions to successful industry initiatives
Preferred
Experience with robotic middleware such as ROS 2 and common communication methods and protocols
Experience with modern ML infrastructure pipelines, approaches, and tools
Experience with VR-based teleoperation for real-time robot control
Background or familiarity with some of the following: motion control and actuation, whole-body control, reinforcement learning, robot teleoperation methods, common communication protocols, research robotic arms/systems, visual perception and depth sensors, machine learning, robotic simulation, force and tactile sensing systems, haptic interfaces
Benefits
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
401(k) eligibility
Paid time off benefits (including vacation, sick time, and parental leave)
Annual cash bonus structure
Company
Toyota Research Institute
Toyota Research Institute is an R&D enterprise with an initial focus on artificial intelligence and robotics.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Toyota Research Institute has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (10)
2020 (7)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageLeadership Team
Gill Pratt
CEO
Phillip Zackler
Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel
Recent News
2025-12-18
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