Sr. SDE - Robotics and Physics Simulation, Frontier AI Robotics

Sr. SDE - Robotics and Physics Simulation, Frontier AI Robotics

Job ID: 3177240 | Amazon.com Services LLC

In this role, you will act as the primary specialist for physics engine internals and dynamics, developing high-fidelity, vectorized simulation environments for robotics locomotion, navigation, and interaction/manipulation. You will collaborate with hardware engineers to validate robot models and partner with research scientists to ensure numerical stability and physical accuracy for Sim2Real transfer. Your work focuses on tuning solvers, optimizing collision dynamics, and performing system identification to enable the training of robust robot control policies for complex, physical interactions.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the shared simulation software framework, specifically owning the physics integration, robot state management, and control layers
• Develop and optimize parallelized (vectorized) physics environments for high-throughput reinforcement learning (e.g., Isaac Lab, MuJoCo)
• Tune physics engine parameters (solvers, friction, restitution) to support complex contact-rich scenarios required for dexterous manipulation and agile locomotion
• Implement and validate complex robot models (URDF/MJCF) involving precise actuator and sensor modeling
• Collaborate with robot engineers and scientists to perform System Identification (SysID) to minimize the Sim2Real gap

About the Team

At Frontier AI & Robotics (FAR), we're not just advancing robotics – we're reimagining it from the ground up. Our team is building the future of intelligent robotics through frontier foundation models and end-to-end learned systems. We tackle some of the most challenging problems in AI and robotics, from developing sophisticated perception systems to creating adaptive manipulation strategies that work in complex, real-world scenarios. What sets us apart is our unique combination of ambitious research vision and practical impact. We leverage Amazon's massive computational infrastructure and rich real-world datasets to train and deploy state-of-the-art foundation models. Our work spans the full spectrum of robotics intelligence – from multimodal perception using images, videos, and sensor data, to sophisticated manipulation strategies that can handle diverse real-world scenarios. We're building systems that don't just work in the lab, but scale to meet the demands of Amazon's global operations.

Join us if you're excited about pushing the boundaries of what's possible in robotics, working with world-class researchers, and seeing your innovations deployed at unprecedented scale.

Basic Qualifications

• 3+ years of non-internship professional software development experience
• 3+ years of non-internship design or architecture (design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and existing systems experience
• Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
• 1+ years software engineering experience in robotics or physics simulation, with a strong understanding of rigid body dynamics and numerical integration
• Experience using standard physics engines (e.g., MuJoCo, PhysX, Bullet, Havok)

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent preferred
• Deep understanding of contact dynamics, collision detection algorithms, and numerical solvers
• Experience with robotics system identification (SysID) and model validation against real hardware
• Experience with GPU-accelerated simulation frameworks (e.g., Isaac Gym/Lab, Mujoco Warp)
• Familiarity with tensor frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow) for writing vectorized code and interfacing with learning pipelines
• A passion for robotics and a desire to build intelligent systems that can positively impact the world

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

USA, CA, San Francisco - $165,200.00 - $223,600.00 USD annually

Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.

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