At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this ground-breaking shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team in Automated Driving, Energy & Materials, Human-Centered AI, Human-Interactive Driving, Large Behavior Models, and Robotics.
The Mission
Make general-purpose robots a reality.
The Challenge
We envision a future where robots assist with household chores and cooking, aid the older population in maintaining their independence, and enable people to spend more time on the activities they enjoy most. To achieve this, robots must be able to operate reliably in complex, unstructured environments. Our mission is to answer the question “What will it take to create truly general-purpose robots that can accomplish a wide variety of tasks in settings like human homes with minimal human supervision?”. We believe that the answer lies in cultivating large-scale datasets of physical interaction from a variety of sources and building on the latest advances in machine learning to learn general-purpose robot behaviors from this data.
Robotics
The mission of TRI Robotics is to invent and prove new robotic capabilities required to enable home robots to solve the challenges faced by an aging society. As part of that mission, we are developing a sophisticated suite of open source robotics software called Drake (https://drake.mit.edu (https://drake.mit.edu/) (https://drake.mit.edu/) (https://drake.mit.edu/))), for use in our internal robotics projects and the wider community of advanced robotics researchers.
The Team
Join Toyota Research Institute’s LBM-C division to change the world by creating and shipping useful general-purpose AI-driven robots. Within this division, the hardware team's mission is to build a highly scalable fleet of robots capable of performing the same general mobile manipulation tasks as humans, in human-like ways and at human-like speeds, via shared autonomy. Join us to build the future of general-purpose physical automation.
The Opportunity
You will be the technical spearhead in the field, responsible for discovering what customers need and making their first experience with our robots a resounding success. As the Field Solution Architect, you are the bridge between our product's potential and the customer's reality.
Responsibilities
Lead on-site customer discovery missions to understand workflows, identify bottlenecks, and uncover automation opportunities.
Design and execute proof-of-concept tests to validate use cases and quantify potential value for prospective customers.
Be responsible for the end-to-end technical deployment at new customer sites, from physical setup to software configuration integration and initial task specification/programming.
Act as the primary technical expert during late-stage sales calls and discovery sessions.
Serve as the primary point of technical support for your assigned customers during their initial ramp-up period.
Qualifications
5+ years of experience in a hands-on technical role in robotics, automation, or a related field
A deep understanding of software, hardware, and the complexities of integrating them in messy, real-world environments
Excellent interpersonal skills; able to build trust with everyone from a forklift operator to a CTO
Previous experience as a Field Application Engineer, Sales Architect, Sales Engineer, or in a similar technical role—ideally within a robotics company—or as a technically minded consultant eager to build tangible solutions
Up to 50% travel required: weekly local travel (within driving distance), monthly domestic travel (Northeast, Bay Area, Pacific Northwest, Southeast), and quarterly international travel (Japan, Asia-Pacific region). Must be available for multi-day customer site visits and deployments.
Bonus Qualifications
Prior experience working in a startup environment and / or scaling a high-velocity team.
The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $122,400 and $183,600 /year for Massachusetts-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, business or organizational needs, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) eligibility, paid time off benefits (including vacation, sick time, and parental leave), and an annual cash bonus structure. Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.
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