Mecka, New York
While our existing perception division handles state estimation and spatial mapping, this role is dedicated to one of the most critical bottlenecks in embodied AI: dexterous manipulation and human-object interaction. We are hiring a Research Scientist to architect and train proprietary foundation models from scratch focused on 3D hand tracking and articulated pose estimation.
Your core mandate is twofold: building our in-house equivalents to cutting-edge 3D hand and mesh recovery architectures, and developing highly robust interaction models tailored for the heavily occluded, chaotic domain of egocentric manipulation. Beyond these core pillars, you will serve as a lead problem-solver for emergent perception challenges as our hardware and downstream robotics needs evolve.
To achieve this, we can provide a massive, continuous stream of high-quality, proprietary ground-truth manipulation data captured by our infrastructure. You will use this data advantage to train networks that surpass current public baselines, owning the complete hand-object perception loop for our data engine.
WHY THIS ROLE?
Warning: Research Scientist positions require hyper-specific expertise. Please limit your applications to one research role. Applying to multiple Research Scientist positions suggests a lack of focus and may result in the rejection of all submissions. You may, however, apply to other non-research roles alongside your research application.
If you don't check every box above but believe you can do the job, we encourage you to apply — we're looking for capability and trajectory, not a perfect checklist match.
We strive to create an inclusive work environment for all; we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing equal opportunities. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, we will partner with you to meet your needs.
We may use AI-assisted tools to help evaluate applications against the requirements of this role. These tools support our recruiting team in identifying qualified candidates but do not replace human judgment or limit which applications may be reviewed or considered.
Mecka AI is building the data infrastructure layer for robotics and embodied AI. We design and operate global systems for data capture, data labeling, and hardware-enabled workflows used by leading AI labs and robotics companies to train and validate humanoid and embodied AI systems. We work closely with frontier robotics teams to bridge real-world data, simulation, learning-based systems, and deployed hardware.
Pay not posted
Posted Aug 5, 2026
$150K–$300K / yr
Posted Sep 2, 2026
$150K–$300K / yr
Posted Sep 2, 2026
DexmateFremont Office
$120K–$300K / yr
Posted Feb 22, 2025
The Robotics CompanySan Francisco +1
Pay not posted
Posted Sep 7, 2026
MetaRedmond, Washington
$8K–$13K / mo
Posted 24 days ago
checked 7 days agoSource: the Mecka Ashby job board. We last checked this job 5 h ago. We first saw it 7 days ago. A job on a job board does not always mean that the team interviews people now. We found this job board in a public list. We did not yet compare it with the careers page of the company.
No one has reported an interview at Mecka yet. Did you interview there? Add the questions.
This base pay is below the median for AI research jobs in New York with no level in the job title.
We compare the middle of each posted range. This is base pay as posted. The group does not include this job.