AI Automation Engineer, Real-World Test Lab

Niantic SpatialSan Francisco, CAEngineering

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Opens the official Niantic Spatial careers page

Salary

$158.4K – $210K

Job type

Full-time

Work mode

Remote

Posted

29 Sept 2026

Status

Open · checked 8d ago

About this role

The AI Automation Engineer position at Niantic Spatial is a full-time hybrid role based in San Francisco, California, offering remote flexibility. This position suits an experienced software and automation professional who wants to build robust evaluation infrastructure for physical AI technologies.

Role Overview

Niantic Spatial seeks an AI Automation Engineer to join the Real-World Test Lab, reporting directly to the Director. In this newly created function, the professional takes ownership of designing and running end-to-end automated evaluations for spatial intelligence software, reconstruction technology, and localization systems. The mandate shifts testing from manual, slow experiments to an always-on service that ensures product releases meet rigorous real-world standards.

Key Responsibilities

Build and maintain the complete evaluation framework, managing environment setup, execution orchestration, artifact capture, and result collection.

Instrument scorecards that allow results to be compared reliably across various product versions, target devices, and environmental capture conditions.

Implement agent workflows designed to test customer use cases at realistic scales across varying difficulty spectrums.

Transition one-off experiments into permanent, standing protocols that automatically execute on relevant releases.

Generate precise diagnostic reports that route actionable failures directly to the appropriate team owners.

Coordinate with the AI Data Manager to ensure every run maps back to a known dataset state without manual downloads.

Requirements

Demonstrated history of building and maintaining production-grade test infrastructure or automation that internal engineering teams relied on consistently.

Experience evaluating systems where performance metrics rely on graded thresholds like quality, accuracy, or latency rather than simple binary assertions.

Strong proficiency in Python, alongside hands-on familiarity with CI-style pipelines, cloud storage, orchestration, and reproducible environments.

Practical background in integrating with backend services and APIs owned by other groups.

Ability to document technical findings clearly so that non-authors can act on them independently.

Holds a bachelor's degree in a related field or possesses equivalent professional experience.

Nice to Have

Experience constructing agent-based or LLM-driven automation tools for tasks previously requiring human intervention.

Background in benchmark creation or evaluation for spatial systems, 3D reconstruction, or computer vision.

Experience designing leadership-facing scorecards or dashboards used for official release decisions.

Operational knowledge of data provisioning or registry infrastructure across diverse environments.

Skills and Tools

Python

LLMs

Computer Vision

CI Pipelines

Cloud Storage

API Integration

Salary and Benefits

Annual base salary ranging between $158,400 and $210,000.

Annual bonus compensation.

Equity options.

Comprehensive health benefits including medical, dental, and vision coverage.

Retirement savings through a 401(k) plan.

About the Company

Niantic Spatial builds foundational physical AI infrastructure powered by an extensive proprietary database of posed images. The company's mapping technology, reconstruction tools, and Visual Positioning System enable machines and humans to navigate and understand real-world environments across robotics, energy, industrial markets, and the public sector.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit their application through the official Niantic Spatial careers page.

Skills and tech stack

Python LLM Computer Vision

Questions candidates ask

What is the location and work model for this role?

The position is based out of the San Francisco, California office with a hybrid work model requiring three days per week in the office.

What is the salary range for the AI Automation Engineer?

The base salary range spans from $158,400 to $210,000 per year, accompanied by an annual bonus, equity, and comprehensive benefits.

What technical skills are required?

Candidates must have strong Python skills, experience with orchestration, CI pipelines, cloud storage, reproducible environments, and a background in building production-grade test automation.

What department does this role sit within?

The role belongs to the Engineering department and specifically reports to the Director of the Real-World Test Lab.

What are the primary responsibilities of the role?

Responsibilities include owning end-to-end test automation, instrumenting comparable scorecards, automating agent-driven workflows, eliminating manual testing, and delivering precise diagnostics for system failures.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Niantic Spatial careers page.

Apply on company site