AI Engineer

Technology Innovation Institute (TII) is a publicly funded research institute, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is home to a diverse community of leading scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and researchers from across the globe, transforming problems and roadblocks into pioneering research and technology prototypes that help move society ahead.

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Research Centre

As part of TII’s Artificial Intelligence Research Center, the Extreme-Scale Language Model team is developing and implementing innovative deep learning technologies with a broad range of applications, from Natural Language Processing to Perception and Vision. Our team has developed the Falcon models and is now planning to continue our journey into cutting-edge applied research in the topic of large language models.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and integrate AI modules into robotic platforms, both in simulation (e.g., Gazebo, Isaac Sim) and real hardware (e.g., robotic arms, mobile robots).
• Set up and manage robot data collection pipelines, including teleoperation interfaces and sensor logging for vision, proprioception, and control signals.
• Work directly with hardware to handle sensor calibration, actuator tuning, and robot setup/troubleshooting — from software bugs to loose connectors.
• Collaborate with researchers to incorporate LLM/VLM-based capabilities into robotic workflows (e.g., language-guided control, multimodal perception).
• Maintain and expand ROS/ROS2-based software stacks, ensuring modular, testable, and reusable components.
• Deploy, test, and optimize AI models on embedded compute platforms (e.g., Jetson, Raspberry Pi).
• Build tools for simulation-based evaluation and benchmarking of robotic behaviors, and assist in transitioning those results to physical systems.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience in robotics software development, especially with ROS/ROS2 and real hardware integration.
• Comfortable working with robotic arms, mobile platforms, and sensors (e.g., cameras, depth sensors, IMUs).
• Hands-on experience with data collection setups, including teleoperation, joystick or VR interfaces, and custom tools.
• Proficient in Python and C++, with clean and modular coding practices.
• Basic hardware troubleshooting skills – including software bugs and physical fixes.
• Familiarity with robot perception, control, and navigation systems.
• Awareness of LLM/VLM technologies and interest in applying them to robotics use cases.
• Proficient with Git, Docker, and collaborative development tools.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience deploying AI models on embedded platforms (e.g., Jetson Xavier/Nano, Coral TPU).
• Familiarity with edge AI frameworks (e.g., TensorRT, ONNX, OpenVINO).
• Previous work experience with robotic embodiments such as Franka Emika Panda, WidowX, or similar platforms.
• Experience with robot learning (imitation, RL) or multimodal learning (vision + language).
• Working knowledge of LLM tools (e.g., Llama.cpp, Ollama).
• Familiarity with robotic simulation environments (Isaac Sim, Gazebo, Webots).
• Experience working in shared lab environments, including adherence to safety practices and maintenance protocols.
• Contributions to open-source robotics or AI projects, or demonstrable personal robotics builds.
• Comfortable using Jira, working in Agile environments, and collaborating across teams.
  
  

At TII, we help society to overcome its biggest hurdles through a rigorous approach to scientific discovery and inquiry, using state-of-the-art facilities and collaboration with leading international

institutions. Our rigorous discovery and inquiry-based approach helps to forge new and disruptive breakthroughs in AI, advanced materials, autonomous robotics, cryptography, digital security, directed energy, quantum computing and secure systems.

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