> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Research Engineer, Post-training & Deployment Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/9fe4480a52f3d2a3 Skild AI posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in San Mateo, CA, at $100,000–$300,000 base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Research Engineer on the post-training team, improving Skild foundation models and deploying them onto robots in real-world customer environments. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Skild AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/skild-ai) Posted Aug 27, 2024 by Skild AI · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026 **$100,000–$300,000** San Mateo, CA Research Engineer on the post-training team, improving Skild foundation models and deploying them onto robots in real-world customer environments. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F9fe4480a52f3d2a3&placement=top) - [View posting at Skild AI](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/skildai-careers/jobs/4091494008) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $100K–$300K Above the median Midpoint $200K · median $190K This job $100K to $300K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K. ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Senior - **Role**: Individual contributor ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now? The job is in San Mateo, CA. Could you work there? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: San Mateo, CA - **Pay**: ## More like this [Cogent Security, Inc.](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/cogent-security-inc) ### [Forward Deployed Agent Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8b2ffedbcbde8090) San Francisco, CA Hybrid 7w ago $100,000–$300,000 [Roboflow](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/roboflow) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/d8c0abf8214d490b) New York, NY · San Francisco, CA Remote 5mo ago $180,000–$250,000 [6sense](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/6sense) ### [Sr. Data Scientist, Forward-Deployed](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/8eac81fe1ac3dfde) San Francisco, CA Remote 12d ago $168,349.5–$230,912.6 ## The job description from Skild AI Posted by Skild AI on Aug 27, 2024 ### Company Overview At Skild AI, we are building the world's first general purpose robotic intelligence that is robust and adapts to unseen scenarios without failing. We believe massive scale through data-driven machine learning is the key to unlocking these capabilities for the widespread deployment of robots within society. Our team consists of individuals with varying levels of experience and backgrounds, from new graduates to domain experts. Relevant industry experience is important, but ultimately less so than your demonstrated abilities and attitude. We are looking for passionate individuals who are eager to explore uncharted waters and contribute to our innovative projects. ### Position Overview We are looking for a Research Engineer who is passionate about delivering results in the real world. As a member of the post-training team, you’ll be responsible for improving Skild foundation models and deploying them onto robots in the field. You’ll work with customers and deployment data to deliver reliable robot behavior in real-world environments, ensuring our systems are safe, efficient, and robust under operational constraints. We work across the final mile of robotics: turning strong lab performance into dependable customer deployments and continuous improvement. By bridging this gap, you will define the standard for how autonomous systems scale from experimental prototypes into indispensable global infrastructure. ### Responsibilities - Research, post-train and evaluate large deep learning models for robotic manipulation tasks. - Develop frameworks to continuously improve robot behaviors. - Collaborate closely with our product teams to source and iterate on customer requirements to ensure technical alignment for on-site deployments. - Own scenario setup and data collection methodologies, managing the operational lifecycle for unique customer use-cases. - Work with our robotics teams to maintain and ensure robots are deployment-ready and execute full-stack software and hardware deployments at customer sites. - Build robust testing and evaluation pipelines for tracking model improvements and corner cases. ### Preferred Qualifications - BS, MS or PhD degree in Computer Science, Robotics, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. - Proficiency in Python and at least one deep learning library such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, etc. - Deep technical knowledge in computer vision and deep learning for robotics, including reinforcement and imitation learning. - Prior experience working with large-scale model training. - Prior experience developing and deploying ML models or software on real robots. - Prior experience with ROS/ROS2 or other robotics middleware platforms. - Bonus if you have experience working with customers and deploying real-world robotics applications. - Bonus if you have experience leveraging LLMs to accelerate development and solve complex engineering problems. Base Salary Range $100,000—$300,000 USD [View posting at Skild AI](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/skildai-careers/jobs/4091494008) ## About Skild AI Develops a shared foundation model for robotics so one AI brain can control many robot embodiments across industrial, warehouse, and inspection tasks. Series C · 50–100 people ## Similar jobs [Syntiant](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/syntiant) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/e0bcf35f10ba6dd1) Redwood City, CA New · 5d ago $195,000–$225,000 [Prime Intellect](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/prime-intellect) ### [Applied Researcher - Forward-Deployed RL](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/0ed15e783d00992e) San Francisco, CA · New York, NY Remote 2w ago $150,000–$300,000 [Deepgram](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/deepgram) ### [Software Engineer - Applied AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/62ba0cdc84fdffe7) San Francisco, CA On-site New · 4d ago $173,800–$212,400 [Salesforce](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/salesforce) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) — Agentforce Orchestration](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/aa41a1949bc5bc55) Atlanta, GA · Chicago, IL · +9 more 2mo ago $88,970–$316,750 [Edison Scientific](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/edison-scientific) ### [Member of Technical Staff, Cloud Software Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/ec956d3e06abdc40) San Francisco, CA On-site 2mo ago $175,000–$240,000 - [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior) - [Similar jobs in SF Bay Area](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?region=sf-bay-area) - [Similar jobs that build what the customer runs](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs?role=builds-for-customers) Hiring at Skild AI and want this page changed or removed? 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