Senior Robotics Engineer, Robot Learning

Description

At Senra Systems, we're building a new model for complex manufacturing, starting with electrical wire harnesses. We're a real manufacturer, not a lab: we build harnesses on our own production lines for some of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the country. Long term, automating this work is how we help bring complex manufacturing back to the U.S.

We're looking for a Senior Robotics Engineer to own the technical implementation of robot learning in our Automation Program. High-mix assembly is one of the hardest problems in manufacturing and has long resisted automation: deformable wire, small parts, and work that changes from job to job. Fixtured, programmed cells handle what they can. You'll take on the rest with learning-based methods, starting with tasks where parts vary from job to job, such as machine tending, and building toward dexterous wire manipulation. We buy robot arms, hands, and base models and build what is specific to harnesses: the data, the training, and the skills. Real hardware, on a real line, in real production.

This is a hands-on senior role on a small team with aggressive goals. You'll report to one of Senra's cofounders, our Head of AI & Robotics, who owns the technical vision for the program. You'll partner with the other senior engineers on the team to execute it, and help shape where it goes as we build. It's a lot of work, with a lot of ownership, and what you build goes onto the line fast.

You'll work closely with our Senior Robotics Engineer, Production to develop and deploy robotic capabilities on the factory floor. Your focus will be on robot learning, perception, and manipulation, using real production data to improve performance and address failure modes. The goal is to build systems that work reliably in production, not just demonstrate capabilities in the lab.

What you'll own:

Learned manipulation on our production line, from research to a skill running on real work, starting with machine tending: picking, loading, and feeding wire and parts that vary from job to job

Feeding what you learn back to production: learned skills, perception and grasping models, and failure analysis, handed to our Senior Robotics Engineer, Production to fold into cells on the line

The data pipeline for learned skills: demonstrations from teleoperation and station cameras, production data from our cells, labeling, and training and evaluation pipelines

Dexterous and wire-manipulation research on the tasks that have resisted automation: small parts, deformable wire, and contact-rich assembly

Model strategy: evaluating and post-training open-weight and partner robot foundation models on our data, and recommending where we build and where we buy

Partner pilots on robotic hands and models, run on our terms, with our data and results staying with Senra

A quarterly research plan, set with our Head of AI & Robotics, with clear deliverables and go or no-go criteria for each task

Helping hire and mentor the engineers who join as the team grows

What you'll bring to the team:

Required:

Hands-on experience training and deploying learning-based manipulation on real robots (e.g., imitation learning, diffusion or transformer policies, reinforcement learning, robot foundation models), not only in simulation

Experience building the data side: teleoperation or demonstration collection, data pipelines, and evaluation on hardware

A track record at a robotics research lab, a frontier robotics company, or a team shipping learned robotic systems, including work you led

Experience with contact-rich or deformable-object manipulation (e.g., cables, insertion, cloth)

A track record of moving quickly on real hardware: experiments that answer a question in days, not months

Strong Python and a deep learning framework such as PyTorch or JAX; comfortable in C++ and with ROS 2 or similar on real robots

Self-starter who takes ownership of a technical area end to end, partners well with other senior engineers, and communicates clearly with technicians, engineers, and leadership

Master's or PhD in robotics, computer science, or mechanical, electrical, or computer engineering, or equivalent research or industry experience

Must be a U.S. Person as defined under ITAR (see ITAR requirements below)

Preferred:

Learned skills shipped into a production or commercial setting, working alongside the engineers who run them

Dexterous hands, tactile sensing, or force-controlled manipulation

Sim-to-real transfer and simulation (e.g., MuJoCo, Isaac Sim)

Publications or open-source work in robot learning

Experience in wire harness, cable assembly, or other high-mix assembly

Startup or high-growth company experience

Experience mentoring engineers or helping build a research team

Success in This Role Looks Like (6–12 Months):

A learned machine-tending skill is running on one of our wire machines alongside programmed tending, with a measured success rate on real jobs

At least one learned capability (a skill, a model, or a fix from failure analysis) has been folded into a production cell, with a measured improvement

Our data pipeline is capturing demonstrations from teleoperation and station cameras, with a technician consent policy in place, and feeding training

At least one dexterous or wire-manipulation task has been attempted on real production harnesses, with partner hardware where it helps, and a measured result

You've set a quarterly research plan with clear deliverables and go or no-go criteria, and made a build-or-buy recommendation on models and hands

You've helped shape the technical roadmap with our Head of AI & Robotics and helped hire the next engineers on the team

We're also hiring a Senior Robotics Engineer, Production, and a Senior Engineer, Data & Perception. If your background sits between roles, apply to any of them and tell us.

Conditions

Compensation will be based on experience, qualifications, and other job-related factors.

Salary Range: $200,000-$260,000

This is an onsite role based at our Cypress, CA facility, with regular time at our Redondo Beach, CA facility

$200,000 - $260,000 USD

Benefits

• Unmatched opportunities to drive impact on a friendly and mission-driven team
• Own a piece of the pie with equity participation!
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability coverage
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Dependent Spending Account (DSA) for health-related expenses
• 20 vacation days per year and 12 company holidays for rest and relaxation
• a 401(k) plan to set yourself up for retirement
• Choose a record you love, and we’ll add it to our growing vinyl collection!
• $50/month DoorDash credit – lunch is on us!
• Up to $100/month reimbursement for gym memberships
• Fully stocked kitchen with snacks and beverages
• Regular team-building events, lunches, and the occasional breakfast burrito!
• Bright, open office with communal spaces for collaboration and free parking
• Conveniently located near the metro, major freeways and local dining spots
• We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Contact us at jobs@senrasystems.us or visit our website https://senrasystems.us .
• ITAR REQUIREMENTS:
• To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here .