AI Applications Engineer (Boston)

About Standard Bots

Standard Bots is building the next generation of industrial robots -- hardware that's powerful, affordable, and designed to scale. We're the largest U.S. industrial robotics company by robots shipped, and our robots are showing up on factory floors everywhere from independent machine shops to NASA and Lockheed Martin.

Note: This role requires up to 50% domestic travel. That number goes down as we grow the team, but right now you're in the field -- a lot. If that's not for you, this probably isn't the right fit.

Also note: If you're looking for a role where you train models and push code, this isn't it. This is a mechanical + electrical + software trifecta that happens to use AI as a tool. The factory floor is your office.

The Role

The AI Applications Engineer sits at the intersection of robotics, AI, and hands-on field work. You're not a pure software engineer and you're not a pure hardware engineer -- you're the person who can look at a manufacturing challenge, figure out how computer vision or a language model makes the robot smarter, and then actually build and deploy the solution.

You'll work closely with the sales and applications engineering teams to scope AI-enabled solutions, build proofs of concept in our shop, and travel to customer sites to install and commission them. You'll own your projects end-to-end -- from initial design through field deployment and customer training.

This is a builder's role. Tinkerers and people who get bored at a desk are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You'll Do

AI Solution Design & POC Development

- Work with customers and the sales team to identify where AI -- computer vision, object detection, visual language models -- creates real leverage in their production process

- Design and build proofs of concept that validate the solution before anyone signs anything

- Develop documentation, sample code, and integration guides that help customers and internal teams replicate and scale what you've built

Field Deployment & Integration

- Travel to customer sites to install, configure, and commission AI-enabled robotic cells

- Own the full integration: camera placement and calibration, model deployment, I/O configuration, testing, and sign-off

- Troubleshoot on-site when things don't go as planned -- you stay until it works

Customer Training & Support

- Train customer operators and engineers on the AI capabilities of their Standard Bots deployment

- Be a trusted technical resource post-install as customers push the system into new applications

- Feed real-world deployment learnings back to our engineering and product teams

Internal Collaboration

- Work with the broader applications and engineering teams on new feature testing, peripheral integrations, and platform expansion

- Help build the internal knowledge base on AI-enabled applications -- what works, what doesn't, and why

What We're Looking For

Core Skills (Must have all or most)

- Robot programming proficiency or adjacent software experience -- if you can write Python without an AI agent, you can probably program a robot having never touched one before

- Prior robotics knowledge -- anything from high school robotics to professional manipulation experience; we care that you've actually worked with robots, not just read about them

- Surface-level fluency in ML models and techniques -- you can have a real conversation about convolutional neural networks, object detection, and visual language models without Googling the definitions mid-sentence

- Technical proficiency in an engineering environment -- you write documentation, manage your own projects, work well with a team, and don't need someone watching over your shoulder

- Willingness to travel -- up to 50% domestically right now; that number will come down as we grow

Specializations (Must have at least one)

- Mechanical Design -- pneumatics, camera mounts, end-of-arm tooling for manipulators; bonus points if you've designed a gripper

- Electrical Design -- custom board fabrication, general electrical knowledge for wiring relays and solenoids in automation environments

- Machine Vision -- you know which cameras and lenses to use for a given application and why; you've actually deployed a vision system, not just selected one on paper

Nice to Have

- Experience with collaborative robots (UR, Fanuc, KUKA, ABB, or similar)

- Hands-on work with vision systems in a production or lab environment (Cognex, Basler, FLIR, or similar)

- Familiarity with ROS or other robotics middleware

- Background in a manufacturing or industrial automation environment

- Experience at a startup -- you know what it means to build something from scratch with limited resources

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this role is $120,000 to $150,000, depending on experience. We are open to a variety of seniority levels for this role and will build compensation packages that are commensurate with seniority and skill level. Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at Standard Bots. All Full-Time Employees are eligible for Employee Stock Options. We also offer a package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees.