Simulation Engineer
Simulation Engineers design and build high-fidelity virtual environments that blend physics engines, 3D reconstruction, and generative AI to train and validate autonomous systems—from self-driving vehicles to humanoid robots. Their day-to-day work spans implementing physics solvers and sensor simulators, developing realism metrics that quantify sim-to-real gaps, and optimizing simulation infrastructure to run at scale. What distinguishes this role is the need to bridge cutting-edge AI research with practical engineering: engineers must both push the frontiers of world modeling using foundation models and deeply understand classical simulation (contact dynamics, rendering, sensor fidelity) to close the gap between virtual and real. These engineers typically sit within dedicated simulation or robotics teams at AI-first companies, collaborating closely with ML researchers, control engineers, and hardware integration teams to ensure simulated worlds provide trustworthy training grounds for embodied AI systems.
Skills
What companies are looking for in this role.
Developing and optimizing physics simulation engines and solvers for complex dynamics and contact modeling
Building and training large foundation models and generative models for realistic world simulation
Designing experiments and establishing metrics to measure simulation fidelity and realism
Designing and implementing machine learning algorithms for autonomous agent behavior and control
Optimizing GPU-accelerated algorithms for distributed computing and large-scale simulation throughput
Implementing reinforcement learning approaches for robot control and policy learning
Integrating and evaluating third-party simulation engines and frameworks into production systems
Developing 3D reconstruction and modeling systems from real-world sensor and visual data
Developing sensor simulation and rendering systems for realistic synthetic data generation
Implementing simultaneous localization and mapping systems for spatial understanding
Translating cutting-edge research into production-ready, scalable systems and pipelines
Implementing sim-to-real transfer techniques to bridge simulation and physical robot deployment
Working with multimodal models and vision-language models for scene understanding and generation
Developing learning-based approaches combined with classical geometry and optimization methods
Collaborating across research, engineering, and product teams on complex multi-disciplinary projects
Implementing and iterating on research prototypes with rapid experimentation cycles
Setting technical vision and roadmaps while balancing research exploration with product-driven milestones
Communicating research findings and technical insights clearly to internal and external stakeholders
Leading technical teams and providing hands-on guidance on research and engineering problems
Technology
The tools and technologies that define this role.
Open Jobs
20 open Simulation Engineer jobs across 8 companies.
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