Robotics Engineer I

Application close date:
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the requisition is closed.

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight!

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About the Role

The New Product Formulation team turns ideas and early concepts into credible products. This role combines robotics simulation, learned manipulation policies, and hands-on hardware to answer the questions that shape new robotic products.

You'll build simulation environments, train and evaluate robot manipulation policies, operate real hardware, and run the experiments that inform system-level trades on mobility, manipulation, power, and compute. The work spans the full stack — writing control software in ROS 2 one day, collecting teleoperation data the next, and presenting trade study results to stakeholders by end of the week. If you're energized by switching between a sim environment, a lab bench, and a design review, this is the role.

What You'll Do

- Develop, train, fine-tune, and evaluate robot manipulation policies (e.g., vision-language-action models, imitation learning, reinforcement learning) on multi-step tasks.
- Collect teleoperation demonstration data and build the data pipelines used for policy training and benchmarking.
- Build and maintain simulation environments in NVIDIA Omniverse, Isaac Sim, and Isaac Lab, including custom terrain, lighting, and physical conditions, and work to close the sim-to-real gap.
- Integrate, bring up, and operate robot hardware, including arms, dexterous hands and grippers, cameras, force/torque sensors, and commercial platforms.
- Write and maintain robot software in ROS 2, including control interfaces, perception pipelines, and safety limits on joints, forces, and workspace.
- Support system-level trade studies for mobility, power, thermal, compute, and communications by running analyses, simulations, and prototype tests that inform design decisions.
- Document results clearly and share findings with the broader team and stakeholders.

Minimum Qualifications

- Minimum of a B.S. degree in Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
- Hands-on experience with real robot hardware through coursework, research, internships, or project teams (e.g., competition robotics, rover teams, lab work).
- Proficiency in Python. Working knowledge of C++.
- Familiarity with robot kinematics, dynamics, and control fundamentals.
- Experience with at least one robotics simulation environment.
- Comfort working in a lab: assembling hardware, wiring, debugging sensors, and safely operating robots.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Preferred Qualifications

- M.S. in a relevant field, or equivalent research experience.
- Experience training or fine-tuning learned robot policies (imitation learning, RL, VLA/foundation models) using frameworks such as PyTorch or JAX.
- Experience with ROS 2.
- Experience with NVIDIA Omniverse, Isaac Sim, or Isaac Lab.
- Experience with industrial or collaborative robot arms (e.g., Universal Robots).
- Experience with physics-based terrain, contact, or soil-interaction modeling.
- Exposure to computer vision and perception for manipulation (pose estimation, segmentation, depth sensing).
- Experience with teleoperation systems or data collection for robot learning.
- Familiarity with designing hardware for harsh or extreme operating environments.
- You've worked across software, simulation, and hardware, and you enjoy switching between them.

Base Pay Range for:
WA applicants is $110,623.00 - $154,871.85

Other site ranges may differ

Culture Statement

Don’t meet all desired requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single desired qualification. At Blue Origin, we are dedicated to building an authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every desired qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Export Control Regulations

Applicants for employment at Blue Origin must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (i.e. current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Background Check

- Required for all positions: Blue’s Standard Background Check
- Required for Certain Job Profiles: Defense Biometric Identification System (DBIDS) background check if at any time the role requires one to be on a military installation
- Required for Certain Job Profiles: Drivers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) or combination of power unit and trailer that meets or exceeds 10,001 lbs. and/or transports placardable amounts of hazardous materials by ground in any vehicle on a public road while in commerce, may be subject to additional Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations including: Driver Qualification Files, Medical Certification (obtained before onboarding), Road Test, Hours of Service, Drug and Alcohol Testing, vehicle inspection requirements, CDL requirements (if applicable) and hazardous materials transportation/shipping training.
- Required for certain Job Profiles: Ability to obtain and maintain Merchant Mariner Credential, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing as well as DOT physical

Benefits

- Benefits include: Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
- Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
- Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.
- Dependent on role type and job level, employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses based on the company's intent to reward individual contributions and enable them to share in the company's results, or other factors at the company's sole discretion. Bonus amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed and subject to change and cancellation. Please check with your recruiter for more details.