Back to jobs

Simulation Engineer - Design and Behavior - Dexterity

Austin, TX

Apptronik is a human-centered robotics company developing AI-powered robots to support humanity in every facet of life. Our flagship humanoid robot, Apollo, is built to collaborate thoughtfully with people, starting with critical industries such as manufacturing and logistics, with future applications in healthcare, the home, and beyond.

We operate at the cutting edge of embodied AI, applying our expertise across the full robotics stack to solve some of society's most important problems. You will join a team dedicated to bringing Apollo to market at scale, tackling the complex challenges like safety, commercialization, and mass production to change the world for the better.

JOB SUMMARY

We are seeking a Simulation Engineer to own the "Design-to-Simulation" loop for our next-generation dexterous hands. 

In this role, you will be the bridge between Mechanical Design and Control. You will be responsible for ingesting new hand designs into the simulation environment, constructing high-fidelity interaction scenes, and implementing the teleoperation pipelines that allow us to validate human-like dexterity before a single part is machined. You will directly impact the design of our hardware by iteratively validating capability in the digital twin.

Furthermore, you will enable the development of next-generation dexterity by using these simulated hands to train and test advanced manipulation behaviors. You will collaborate with the Controls teams to prototype contact-rich skills—such as finger gaiting, sliding, and in-hand reorientation—ensuring that our hardware designs are not just mechanically sound, but capability-ready for complex, autonomous tasks.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Asset Pipeline & USD Integration: Champion the "Design-to-Sim" workflow. Develop tooling to rapidly convert CAD into Universal Scene Description (USD) assets with accurate collision meshes, joint limits, and kinematic parameters optimized for Isaac Sim.
  • Evaluation Scene Construction: Design and implement the evaluation environments in Isaac Lab, including the multiple dexterity benchmarks and scenarios. You will own the modeling of the physical properties for high-fidelity photorealistic dynamic simulation.
  • Teleoperation & Retargeting Integration: Implement and maintain the interface between human input devices (VR gloves, controllers) and the simulated hand. You will ensure the teleoperation stack performs identically on simulated hands as it does on real hardware.
  • Workspace & Kinematic Analysis: Create automated analysis tools via Python scripting in Isaac Sim to visualize reachable workspace and manipulability ellipsoids for new hand designs immediately upon import.
  • Sim-to-Real Validation: Partner with the hardware team to iteratively measure and reduce the sim-to-real gap. You will run side-by-side comparisons of grasping stability to tune simulation parameters until they match reality.

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS:

  • Simulation Mastery: Deep experience with modern robotics simulators, like Isaac Sim or MuJoCo.
  • USD Proficiency: Strong understanding of the Universal Scene Description (USD) file format, including composition arcs, layers, and stages.
  • Coding Proficiency: Strong Python skills for scripting, pipeline automation, and data analysis. Proficiency in C++ is a plus.
  • Robotics Fundamentals: Solid understanding of kinematics, rigid body dynamics, collision geometry generation, and spatial math.
  • Collaborative Mindset: Ability to be the communication bridge between the hardware design team and the end-users on the software team.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

  • MS or PhD in Robotics, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, or related fields, 2+ years of experience working with robotic simulation.

 

 

*This is a direct hire.  Please, no outside Agency solicitations. 

Apptronik provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Apptronik? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...

Technology Control Restrictions: As a person in this position will have access to technical data and/or computer software maintained by the Company, which includes export-controlled technical data and/or computer software, successful applicants must be eligible under U.S. export control regulations to access such information.

Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Apptronik’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.