Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Perception R&D

About this role:

Pickle is on the hunt for a dynamic and driven Senior Machine Learning Engineer to revolutionize the future of warehouse automation. This role will focus on pushing the boundaries of what is possible in robotic perception. You will use Foundation Models, Vision-Language Models (VLMs), and Generative AI to solve the "long-tail" of rare events in the supply chain. You will be bridging the gap between cutting-edge academic research and reliable, real-world robotic deployment.

• Tame the Long Tail: You will develop strategies to detect and handle "rare events" (novel packaging, damaged goods, occlusion) that break traditional detectors.
• Leverage Foundation Models: You will adapt and fine-tune large-scale foundation models for specific robotic manipulation tasks, toward zero-shot generalization capabilities.
• Model Optimization: You will take massive, compute-heavy models and distill them into efficient, lightweight networks that can run with low latency on edge compute (NVIDIA Orin).
• Drive Technical Excellence: As a senior member of the team, you will stay ahead of the curve on CV/ML research, translate relevant breakthroughs into production-grade gestures and mentor junior engineers.

• 5+ Years of Experience in Computer Vision and Deep Learning, with a specific focus on applied research or advanced R&D.
• You have hands-on experience with modern architectures: Transformers (ViT), Self-Supervised Learning (SSL), Vision-Language Models (VLMs), or Zero-Shot detection.
• Expert-level Python and PyTorch skills.
• You are focused on the "hard" problems (occlusions, reflective surfaces, and variable lighting), and you know when to use a large model versus a simple heuristic.
• Experience with Model Distillation (Student-Teacher networks) and Quantization.
• You can demystify complex AI research and articulate performance implications to engineering and product stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Docker, AWS/GCP (S3, EC2) and experiment tracking tools.

Pay at Pickle

At Pickle Robot Company, we believe transparency builds trust. The salary range listed here is provided in accordance with Massachusetts law and reflects what we reasonably and in good faith expect to offer for this role. We often consider candidates at different levels of seniority, and final compensation will reflect the level at which a candidate is hired, along with factors like experience and location.

About Pickle Robot

Want to get in on the ground floor of a fast-growing, VC-backed robotics company? Join Pickle Robot! We build systems that companies and their teams love.

Pickle robots unload trucks. Every day, millions of trucks and containers are loaded and unloaded, often requiring manual labor—tough, dirty, dangerous, and hard to staff. Pickle automates this process using AI, machine learning, and robotics to deliver reliable products. Our Unload Systems work with teams on loading docks to make the job safer, faster, and more efficient.

Pickle provides best-in-class benefits including health, dental, & vision insurance; unlimited vacation, along with all federal and state holidays; 401K contributions of 5% your salary, travel supplies, and other items to make your working life more fun, comfortable, and productive.