Senior Robotics Engineer / Postdoctoral Researcher 60-100 %

Description du poste

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher or senior robotics engineer. Take humanoid and quadruped robots out of the lab and into industry: with Swiss partners, you deploy reinforcement learning, robot foundation models and agentic systems in the real world. Senior Robotics Engineer / Postdoctoral Researcher 60\\-100 % \*\*School:\*\* School of Engineering \*\*Starting date:\*\* January 2027 or by appointment. \*\*Your role\*\* \* You conduct applied research and development as a senior robotics engineer / postdoctoral researcher in the Embodied Mobile Agents (EMA) research group, deploying reinforcement learning and VLA/WAM policies on humanoid and quadruped robots in the real world. \* You drive our current focus topics: flexible industrial automation through agentic embodied AI systems, robotic foundation models and reinforcement learning for mobile manipulation. In a new project, we will be looking into lowering the entry barrier to robot teleoperation and imitation learning for non\\-technical users through automated dataset curation and real\\-time feedback. \* You turn results into publications and open\\-source code contributions. \* You collaborate with companies, universities and other partners in Switzerland and the EU. Most of our projects are applied research and innovation projects with Swiss companies, mainly funded by Innosuisse. \*\*Your profile\*\* \* You hold a PhD in robotics, or in computer science or a related field with a focus on AI for robotics. \* You are a pragmatic "maker" with a strong drive to build things that work and are appealing to use, and you have hands\\-on experience with real robots, including prototyping and modifying robots with off\\-the\\-shelf equipment. \* You have proven competencies in robot learning (reinforcement learning, imitation learning, robot foundation models) and in classical robotics (motion planning, perception and navigation, teleoperation). \* You are a strong programmer and work confidently with ROS / ROS 2, Nav2, MoveIt, PCL, OpenCV, the NVIDIA Jetson ecosystem and current deep learning frameworks. \* You have a strong research track record in AI for robotics or computer vision, shown by publications, and your curiosity keeps you on top of the state of the art. \* You are fluent in English; German is a plus. \* We offer a position at the level of research associate, initially limited to 2 years. \*\*This is what we stand for\*\* Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW is one of Switzerland's largest multidisciplinary universities of applied sciences, with over 14'000 students and 3'400 faculty and staff. The School of Engineering (\[SoE\](\ )), as one of the leading educational and research institutions in Switzerland, focuses on topics relevant to the future. 14 institutes and centres guarantee high\\-quality education, research and development with a focus on the areas of energy, mobility, information and health. The Centre for Artificial Intelligence (\[CAI\](\ )) maintains a growing number of research groups in four strategic focus areas: \[Foundations of AI \\\& Machine Learning, Generative \\\& Multimodal AI, Physical \\\& Agentic AI, and Trustworthy \\\& Responsible AI\](\ ). The CAI conducts method\\-focused applied re\\-search and development at the highest level in the field of machine learning and is committed to a human\\-centered ap\\-proach to artificial intelligence, thereby actively shaping the ethical dimension. We are looking for a witty, sharp, curious, and technically skilled personality. We value potential over formally certified skills, encouraging also unconventional CVs, , transdisciplinary backgrounds or own entrepreneurial experience. Please honor us with a tailored cover letter and highlight facts that underline your ability to achieve high. We are looking forward to hearing from you! ZHAW is committed to gender\\-mixed and diverse teams in order to promote equality, diversity and innovation. \*\*What you can expect\*\* We offer working conditions and terms of employment commensurate with higher education institutions and actively promote personal development for staff in leadership and non\\-leadership positions. A detailed description of advantages and benefits can be found at \[Working at the ZHAW\](\ ). The main points are listed below: \*\*Contact\*\* \*\*Dr. Jorge Peña Queralta\*\* Head of the Embodied Mobile Agents Research Group \*\*Samy Shalaby\*\* Recruiting Manager j4id10438235jm j4it1042jm j4iy26jm