Associate Director, Physical AI

Our Opportunity:
Our fast-growing Warehouse & Fulfillment Center teams are the heart of our operations, helping ensure millions of pet families around the country receive their pet supplies and medicines when they need them. Chewy's AI & Data Innovation organization is developing cutting-edge technology to manipulate items across our extensive inventory.
A key element of this initiative involves capturing, modeling, and manipulating a wide variety of products-ranging from cat toys to large bags of dog food. Our work spans real-world and physics simulation environments, enabling us to validate, refine, and iterate on solutions for ongoing improvement.
We are seeking a big thinker to provide technical leadership, hands on science and engineering vision, in building an innovative environment that bridges both our real-world lab in Woburn, MA, and simulated platforms. Fulfill your potential alongside dedicated Team Members responsible for providing best-in-class delivery experiences and supply chain expertise!
WHO YOU ARE:

• Passionate about Simulation and Curation: You're excited to build, curate, and develop a state-of-the-art simulation environment that supports physical-world libraries and deformable objects (e.g., dog food bags, ).
• Interest in Hybrid Learning: Fascinated by designing and creating environments for hybrid real-world and simulated reinforcement learning to address grasping and manipulation challenges.
• Problem Solver for Scale: Motivated by the challenge of manipulating a catalog of 115,000+ diverse items spanning a wide variety of e-commerce package types.
• Team Leader and Mentor: Skilled in mentoring and leading a highly capable engineering and science team with a clear focus on impactful goals that drive business outcomes.
• Influential Thinker: Inspired to see your ideas, pipelines and experiments influence top-level decision-makers and deliver measurable business results.
• Innovative Collaborator: Committed to understanding and refining problem statements without over-constraining goal definitions and innovating in a collaborative environment to achieve optimal solutions.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Robot Development: Design and test robot motion control algorithms in simulated environments before deployment on real hardware.
• Grasping and Manipulation: Develop and validate solutions for handling a wide variety of products within our catalog.
• Business Impact: This work will have a direct impact on saving money for our customers and creating a safer work environment for our team members.
• Connect & Grow: There will be a requirement to travel and visit vendors as well as attend trade shows, representing the company and fostering key business relationships. Expect up to 10% travel.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience (AI, Data Science, Engineering, MIS, CS, or related field).
• Deep Knowledge of Robotics Simulation: Extensive experience with physical robotics simulators, including expertise in physics engines, environment creation, sensor modeling, and running complex robot simulations.
• Expertise in Physical Simulation: Hands-on experience with physical-level simulation tools such as Isaac Sim, Gazebo, PyBullet, or MuJoCo. Ability to build robot models, set up environments, program sensor data, and implement complex physics interactions within simulation platforms.
• Physics Engine Expertise - Deep familiarity with physics engines embedded in simulation tools, ensuring accurate simulation of robot dynamics and environmental interactions.
• Advanced Programming Skills - Strong coding proficiency in C++, Python, or other appropriate languages for developing simulation scripts and control algorithms.
• Sensor Modeling - Experience designing realistic sensor models such as LiDAR, cameras, and IMUs within simulation tools to support perception algorithms.
• Environment Design - Capability to create diverse and complex simulated environments using terrain editing tools and object libraries.
• Simulation Optimization - Expertise in techniques for optimizing simulation performance to support real-time control and large-scale testing.

HIGHLY DESIRABLE:

• Publications in Physical AI, Robotics Simulation, knowledge systems, or related areas.
• Advanced degrees (Master's or PhD) in AI, Robotics, Systems Engineering, or Applied Science.
• Contributions to open-source projects in Robotics Simulation or Physical AI.
• Exposure to dynamic industries, such as e-commerce, supply chain or, where Robotics and AI intelligence drives innovation.

If you're excited to tackle unique challenges in physical simulation and robotics while mentoring a talented team, this is your opportunity to make a significant impact in a fast-paced and innovative environment.
Chewy is committed to equal opportunity. We value and embrace diversity and inclusion of all Team Members. If you have a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act or similar law, and you need an accommodation during the application process or to perform these job requirements, or if you need a religious accommodation, please contact [email protected].
If you have a question regarding your application, please contact [email protected].
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