Latest AI JobsBrowse Jobs
P

ML Engineer - API Platform

physicalintelligenceSan FranciscoMachine Learning
Apply on company site
Salary
Not listed
Job type
Full-time
Experience
Senior
Posted
5 Oct 2026
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

The ML Engineer - API Platform position at physicalintelligence in San Francisco is a full-time software and systems role suited for engineers who want to build developer platforms and model APIs for general-purpose robotics. This position gives candidates the opportunity to shape how external users interact with foundation models that control physical devices.

Role Overview

Physical Intelligence is hiring an ML Engineer - API Platform to develop the product surface that enables external organizations to use company models. Located in San Francisco, this full-time role focuses on creating systems that allow users to bring their own data, fine-tune models, evaluate performance, and execute low-latency inference in their own environments.

Key Responsibilities

Build the model API end to end, covering data ingestion, fine-tuning, evaluation, low-latency remote inference, partner-facing tools, and deployment integrations.
Design systems to scale from a small group of integrated partners to thousands of organizations and millions of robots.
Architect reliable, multi-tenant infrastructure focused on rate limiting, isolation, backpressure, versioning, observability, and SLOs.
Turn partner data into a product experience spanning initial upload, validation, processing, fine-tuning, and evaluation.
Build and operate low-latency inference systems to control real-world robots.
Collaborate with researchers to convert model capabilities into stable product surfaces.
Refine APIs, tooling, documentation, and abstractions based on partner usage patterns.
Write production code that integrates with existing company infrastructure.
Define the developer platform for general-purpose robotics.

Requirements

Strong software engineering fundamentals with experience building production systems.
Deep backend and systems background across APIs, services, databases, caching, distributed systems, and infrastructure.
Experience building and scaling developer platforms, particularly for model fine-tuning, inference, or compute-intensive workloads.
Understanding of scale-related challenges including reliability, latency, multi-tenancy, versioning, observability, and operational complexity.
Familiarity with machine learning systems to deploy, serve, and debug models in production without needing to be an ML researcher.
Proficiency in Python with the ability to work across infrastructure and product boundaries.
High degree of ownership and ability to solve ambiguous problems independently.

Nice to Have

Experience building low-latency or real-time systems using streaming, inference transport, WebSockets, or QUIC.
Experience building model-serving, inference, fine-tuning, or developer-platform infrastructure.
Background at an early-stage infrastructure, AI, robotics, or autonomous systems company.
Familiarity with Python, Postgres, ClickHouse, GCP, Kubernetes, Modal, React, and TypeScript.
Experience with security, authentication, authorization, or multi-tenant infrastructure.

Skills and Tools

Python
Postgres
ClickHouse
GCP
Kubernetes
Modal
React
TypeScript
WebSockets
QUIC

About the Company

Physical Intelligence develops foundation models and learning algorithms to power robots and physically-actuated devices. The organization brings general-purpose artificial intelligence into the physical world by building models that control diverse robots across multiple tasks.

How to Apply

Candidates should apply on the official company careers page.

Skills and tech stack

PythonPostgresClickHouseGCPKubernetesModalReactTypeScriptWebSocketsQUICLLMMachine LearningFine-tuningDistributed Systems

Questions candidates ask

Is robotics experience required for this role?

No, robotics experience is not required. The company welcomes applicants who have built developer platforms, model APIs, or infrastructure products outside of robotics.

Do I need to be an ML researcher to apply?

No, you do not need to be an ML researcher. However, you do need enough familiarity with machine learning systems to deploy, serve, and debug models in production.

Where is the job located?

The position is located in San Francisco.

Does this role involve customer success or ongoing partner support?

No, this is not a customer success role. You will not own ongoing partner support or change management inside customer organizations.

What programming language is primarily required?

Strong Python skills are required for the role.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official physicalintelligence careers page.

Apply on company site