Principal Research Scientist, Robotics
Samsung Research America
| Company | Samsung Research America |
| Category | Science & Research |
| Location | 665 Clyde Avenue |
| Remote | On-site (inferred) |
| Employment | Not stated |
| Level | Lead |
| Salary | Not stated by the employer |
| Posted | 24 Jul 2026 |
| Last verified | 12 Aug 2026 |
| Source | Employer ATS (greenhouse) |
Description
Lab Summary: The Robot Intelligence Lab at Samsung Research America is a new facility dedicated to advancing the field of robotics through cutting-edge research and development. The lab’s mission is to develop advanced technologies to power intelligent robotic systems capable of manipulation, navigation, and complex reasoning for a variety of high-impact application areas. To achieve this mission, the lab collaborates closely with external entities such as universities, startups, and government labs, as well as with several Samsung Product and Advanced Research labs.
Position Summary: Samsung Research America is looking for a Principal Research Scientist with solid technical skills and rich academic and/or industry experience in the area of robot reasoning. Our ideal candidate explores novel AI technologies towards generalizing robots to perform tasks in the real world and is passionate at pursuing technology patenting and publication. Samsung’s unique advantage in the consumer electronics market and growing focus on AI and robotics will provide you with exciting technical challenges and a rewarding career experience. By leveraging Samsung’s vast product ecosystem to deliver novel user experiences, your work will define Samsung’s future in robotics and significantly impact real-world users.
Candidates with additional experience are encouraged to apply in and will be considered for other opportunities.
Position Responsibilities:
Conduct ambitious, state-of-the-art research that pushes the boundaries of long-horizon robot autonomy. Areas of expertise include task-and-motion planning (TAMP), agentic robotics, vision language models (VLMs), open-world 3D perception, world models, locomanipulation, and multimodal (vision, tactile, audio, semantic) data fusion
Lead a team of researchers and engineers to design and implement research prototypes and technology demonstrators on robotic platforms
Work within cross-functional, cross-divisional teams and assist in the design, analysis and performance evaluation from concept to completion
Provide technical leadership and assist in shaping R&D priorities by following up-to-date scientific research and communicating key developments
Establish cooperative projects with universities and startups to investigate topics that explore the frontiers of knowledge and/or deliver unique advantages in key technologies
Generate patents and scientific research papers for top-tier publication venues
Required Skills:
PhD degree in CS/EE/Robotics, or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
11+ years’ post-graduate experience conducting state-of-the-art robotics R&D
Strong research track-record including multiple first-author publications at top-tier venues in robotics or related fields, e.g., CoRL, ICRA, RAL, RSS, CVPR, ICML, NeurIPS
Comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of robotics, machine learning, planning, and computer vision
Demonstrated experience implementing and testing complex integrated behaviors on simulated and real robots
Knowledgeable of tools and processes for ML model development, tuning, evaluation, and deployment
Familiarity with PyTorch, TensorFlow, C++, ROS, and CUDA
Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and as part of a team
Excellent verbal communication and writing skills to effectively represent the derived results and technical concepts developed in the course of the work
Special Attributes:
Thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
Contribute in a team-oriented environment, while driving your own agenda
Prioritize multiple tasks in order to consistently meet deadlines
Creatively solve problems in an analytical environment
Resilience to overcome hurdles and address failures with alternative paths
Adapt quickly to new environments, people, technologies and processes
High caliber presentation skills w