- Salary
- $110k – $140k/yr
- Location
- Boston, MA
- Workplace
- Onsite
- Type
- Full-time
- Department
- Engineering
- Seniority
- Senior
- Source
- Lever
Description
About the Role
Field AI is transforming how robots interact with the real world. Our R&D team, the FieldAI Research Institute (FAIRI), is based in Cambridge, MA, where we build risk-aware, field-ready AI systems that unlock general purpose intelligence for robotics.
FAIRI is looking for a Senior Data Operations Engineer to run the day-to-day of our data operations function: building the tooling the pipeline runs on, staying hands-on enough to dogfood and stress-test that tooling yourself, and managing the interns and contractors who carry out the bulk of day-to-day collection and annotation. You’ll work directly with the Research Operations Partner to scale FAIRI’s in-house data function, and you’ll set the technical and operational bar the rest of the Data Operations Engineering team is built around.
What You’ll Do
Data Tooling & Infrastructure — 25%
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Build and maintain hardware sensor suites — sensor harnesses, camera arrays, mounting fixtures, wearable sensor stacks (including soldering and cable assembly).
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Write and maintain QA scripts for in-house and vendor data drops.
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Build and maintain annotation software and other internal data tooling.
Data Collection & Annotation — 25%
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Run motion capture, teleoperation, and human-subjects data collection sessions yourself — the fastest way to dogfood and stress-test tooling and protocols before handing them to the team.
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Annotate robotics/AV datasets (object interaction, contact state, multi-agent) against FAIRI’s evaluation framework.
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Use hands-on collection and annotation work to surface tooling gaps and drive the tooling roadmap above.
Team Management & Documentation — 25%
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Manage and schedule data collection interns and contractors; own day-to-day throughput and quality.
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Onboard and train interns/contractors on equipment, SOPs, and the informed-consent process.
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Write and maintain SOPs and other supporting documentation for data collection, annotation, and lab operations.
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Own first-level QC and escalation for intern/contractor output; flag protocol or safety issues.
Technical Demo Support — 25%
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Learn the product stack and operate various robotic platforms to demonstrate FieldAI FFM (Field Foundation Model) capabilities.
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Support demo planning and execution, coordinating with the Research Operations Partner
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Help produce content showcasing FieldAI’s ability to deploy robots on dull, dirty,
and dangerous jobs.
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Troubleshoot hardware and software issues live during demos with important stakeholders.
What You Bring
You don’t need every skill below, but you should bring real, hands-on depth in several of them:
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Soldering and cable assembly
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Motion capture systems (e.g., Vicon, OptiTrack, markerless/IMU)
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Data annotation for robotics or autonomous vehicles
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QA for hardware and/or software
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3D scanning and 3D printing
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Data collection and human subjects research (IRB/consent familiarity a plus)
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AR/VR development or production
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Python, Java, or equivalent scripting
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LIDAR
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Robotics (platforms, sensors, or control)
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Linux command line
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Blender or Unity
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Film/TV production
Beyond the toolkit:
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Comfortable moving between hardware and software in the same day: genuinely hands-on, not hands-off.
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High ownership: you can take an open-ended ask (“troubleshoot why this data had issues ”) and run with it without much hand-holding.
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Strong documentation habits: you leave SOPs and processes better than you found them.
What Sets You Apart
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Background in film/TV production, game development, data operations, or another field where wearing every hat is normal
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Interest in humanoid robotics and how machines learn from human movement
Why FAIRI
This role sits inside FAIRI’s Research Operations function, supporting the Humanoid Program. It’s built to grow: the Data Operations Engineering track is expected to scale from one person today to a small team over the next 12–18 months, and this hire is a leading candidate for Data Operations Engineering Lead as that team stands up.