AI Research Engineer - Vision-Language Action Models

Griffin Labs is looking for a Founding AI Research Engineer to lead the adaptation and deployment of Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models. We are focused on solving high-dexterity manipulation through cross-embodiment learning—training models that generalize across diverse robotic platforms and hardware configurations.

The Role

You will own the full development lifecycle of autonomous capabilities. This is an end-to-end mission: from reviewing raw trajectory data and designing model architectures to deployment and fleet-level monitoring. You aren't just training models; you are building the systems that allow them to function in the real world.

Key Responsibilities:

•  End-to-End Ownership: Lead the data-to-deployment loop—curating datasets, fine-tuning VLA models, and building the monitoring systems that ensure fleet-level reliability.

•  Cross-Embodiment Learning: Develop and optimize models capable of handling diverse robot morphologies and kinematic constraints.

•  Model Adaptation: Architect and fine-tune VLA stacks that bridge high-level reasoning with low-level whole-body control.

•  Academic Collaboration: Work alongside expert research advisors from institutions like Stanford, NTU, and SUTD to push the boundaries of what's possible in robotics.

•  Validation: Design robust evaluation metrics in Isaac Sim/MuJoCo and bridge the Sim2Real gap for a production fleet.

Requirements

• Technical Depth: A strong fundamental understanding of Transformers, Diffusion architectures, and LLMs/VLMs, particularly as they apply to sequential decision-making or action prediction.
•   ML Expertise: Deep proficiency in PyTorch and experience fine-tuning large-scale multimodal models.
•   Cross-Embodiment: A strong interest or background in generalizing AI across different robot types.
•  Simulation: Fluency in environments like Isaac Sim or MuJoCo and the nuances of the Reality Gap.
•  Software Foundations: High proficiency in Python.
•  Founding Mindset: High agency and the ability to build necessary tooling, scripts, and evaluation frameworks from scratch.

Why Griffin Labs

We are a lean, technical team moving at the pace of frontier AI. As a founding hire, you will have a direct hand in shaping our technical North Star and defining how the next generation of robots learns from the world.