How to Apply to Figure AI

Key Takeaways

Tailor every resume and application to the specific Figure AI role — Greenhouse tracks each submission separately, and generic applications are easy to filter out in a company receiving high volumes of interest.
Emphasize zero-to-one accomplishments prominently: launching products, building teams, creating processes, and shipping first versions — this matches Figure AI's current stage more than any amount of big-company optimization experience.
Mirror exact keywords from Figure AI's job descriptions in your resume — terms like 'humanoid,' 'manipulation,' 'sim-to-real,' 'production scale-up,' or role-specific tools will surface your profile in Greenhouse keyword searches.
Prepare to articulate your genuine motivation for joining a humanoid robotics startup — interviewers at mission-driven companies like Figure AI actively screen for authentic enthusiasm versus hype-chasing.
Research Figure AI's product (Figure 02), recent partnerships (notably with OpenAI and BMW), and public demos before any interview — showing you understand the product and competitive landscape signals serious intent.
Submit your resume as a cleanly formatted, single-column PDF with standard section headers to maximize Greenhouse parsing accuracy and recruiter readability.
Prepare cross-functional communication examples for your interviews — be ready to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences, as this is a daily requirement at a full-stack robotics company.

About Figure AI

Figure AI is one of the most ambitious robotics companies in the world, developing general-purpose humanoid robots designed to perform tasks in real-world environments alongside humans. Founded in 2022 by Brett Adcock, the company has attracted extraordinary attention and capital — securing investments from OpenAI, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Jeff Bezos, and other marquee backers — positioning it at the absolute frontier of embodied artificial intelligence. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Figure AI is building its flagship humanoid robot (Figure 02) to eventually address labor shortages in manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, and beyond. The culture at Figure AI is intensely mission-driven, fast-paced, and deeply technical. This is a startup operating with startup urgency but on a world-changing scale: employees commonly describe an environment where hardware deadlines are real, cross-functional collaboration is constant, and the problems you solve on Tuesday might not have existed on Monday. With 121 active job openings spanning production, engineering, marketing, quality, and operations, Figure AI is clearly transitioning from a pure R&D operation into a company preparing for commercial-scale manufacturing. People want to work at Figure AI because it represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Humanoid robotics is an emerging industry with massive potential, and Figure AI is widely regarded as one of the two or three companies most likely to bring a commercially viable humanoid robot to market. If you thrive in high-autonomy, high-stakes environments where the technology you build could reshape entire industries, Figure AI is uniquely compelling. The compensation packages typically include equity — a meaningful consideration given the company's trajectory and valuation growth.

Application Process

Identify Your Role on Figure AI's Careers Page
Visit figure.ai/careers and browse the 121+ open positions across engineering, production, marketing, operations, and quality. Figure AI organizes listings by department, so filter carefully — roles like 'Production Associate (All Levels)' indicate openness to varying experience levels, while titles with 'Senior Manager' signal leadership expectations. Read every line of the job description; Figure AI's postings tend to be specific about required technical skills, especially for hardware and robotics roles.
Submit Your Application Through Greenhouse
Figure AI uses Greenhouse as its applicant tracking system, so all applications flow through structured submission forms. You'll typically upload your resume (PDF is safest for parsing), fill in contact details, and answer any role-specific screening questions. Some positions may include optional fields for portfolios, GitHub links, or cover letters — treat optional fields as opportunities to differentiate yourself, especially for competitive roles.
Complete Any Initial Screening Questions or Assessments
Greenhouse allows hiring teams to embed custom screening questions directly into the application. For technical roles at Figure AI, expect questions about specific technologies (ROS, Python, CAD software, ML frameworks) or relevant domain experience in robotics, manufacturing, or AI. For non-technical roles like Customer Success Associate or Communications, you may be asked about portfolio work or scenario-based questions. Answer with specificity — vague responses are easy to filter out.
Recruiter Phone Screen
If your application clears initial review, a recruiter or talent partner will typically schedule a 20-30 minute introductory call. At a high-growth startup like Figure AI, expect this conversation to cover your motivation for joining a pre-revenue robotics company, your comfort with ambiguity and fast-changing priorities, and a high-level review of your relevant experience. This is also your chance to ask about team structure, the role's immediate priorities, and the interview timeline.
Technical or Functional Interview Round
For engineering and production roles, anticipate at least one deeply technical interview — this could involve system design, hands-on problem-solving, coding challenges, or hardware-specific discussions depending on the position. For roles like Quality Engineer or Metrology, expect questions about measurement systems analysis, GD&T, and process control. Non-technical roles like Senior Lifecycle Marketing Manager will likely face case-study or strategy-based interviews that test your ability to build programs from zero.
Cross-Functional or Panel Interview
Figure AI operates with significant cross-team collaboration — your robot's software team needs to talk to its hardware team, which needs to talk to manufacturing. Many applicants report a panel or loop-style interview where you meet 3-5 team members across functions. This stage evaluates not just competence but how you communicate complex ideas to people outside your specialty, a critical skill in a company building full-stack humanoid systems.
Final Interview and Offer Stage
The final stage commonly involves a conversation with a senior leader or hiring manager focused on culture fit, long-term vision alignment, and role expectations. Given Figure AI's startup stage, this conversation may also touch on your tolerance for risk, your perspective on the humanoid robotics market, and what you'd want to accomplish in your first 90 days. Offers typically include base salary, equity (a significant component at this stage), and benefits — review the full package carefully.

Resume Tips for Figure AI

Critical Lead With Robotics, AI, and Hardware Manufacturing Keywords

Figure AI's Greenhouse-powered pipeline will be reviewed by recruiters and hiring managers who are scanning for domain-specific language. If you have experience with humanoid robotics, robotic manipulation, locomotion, reinforcement learning, sim-to-real transfer, or manufacturing scale-up, those terms need to appear prominently — not buried in paragraph three of a bullet point. Mirror the exact phrasing from the job description wherever it honestly applies to your experience.

Critical Quantify Impact in Startup-Relevant Terms

Figure AI is a startup transitioning to production. They care about speed, resourcefulness, and measurable outcomes. Instead of 'managed quality processes,' write 'reduced defect rate by 34% across 3 production lines while cutting inspection cycle time by 20%.' For marketing roles, quantify pipeline contribution, campaign ROI, or audience growth. Every bullet should answer: what did you do, how much, and what was the result?

Critical Highlight Zero-to-One Experience Over Maintenance Work

With 121 open roles and a product still approaching commercial launch, Figure AI is building nearly everything for the first time. If you've launched a product, stood up a manufacturing line, built a team from scratch, created a process where none existed, or shipped v1 of anything — lead with that. This signals you can operate without a playbook, which is the daily reality at a company like Figure AI.

Use Clean, ATS-Friendly Formatting for Greenhouse

Greenhouse parses resumes effectively but still struggles with complex layouts. Use a single-column format, standard section headers (Experience, Education, Skills), and avoid text boxes, tables, columns, or infographic-style designs. Submit as a PDF unless the application specifically requests .docx. Greenhouse will extract text from your PDF for recruiter review and keyword matching, so ensure text is selectable, not embedded in images.

Include Relevant Technical Tools and Platforms by Name

Figure AI's engineering stack likely spans ROS/ROS2, PyTorch or TensorFlow, simulation tools (Isaac Sim, MuJoCo, Gazebo), CAD platforms (SolidWorks, NX), and programming languages like Python, C++, and Rust. For production and quality roles, mention experience with CMMs, laser trackers, Six Sigma, SPC, or specific metrology tools. Name-dropping the right tools makes your resume immediately legible to both the ATS keyword scan and the hiring manager's quick review.

Tailor Your Resume for Each Specific Role

Figure AI's open positions range from Production Associate to Senior Manager of Communications — these are wildly different audiences. A resume optimized for a Quality Engineer role should foreground metrology and process control experience, while a Senior Lifecycle Marketing Manager resume should emphasize CRM platforms, segmentation strategy, and retention metrics. Greenhouse tracks each application separately, so submitting a tailored resume per role is both possible and expected.

Add a Concise Professional Summary That Signals Mission Alignment

Open your resume with a 2-3 sentence summary that explicitly connects your background to Figure AI's mission. Something like: 'Mechanical engineer with 6 years of experience designing actuator systems for legged robots, most recently leading a 4-person team that brought a bipedal platform from prototype to field testing.' This immediately tells the reader you're not just qualified — you're relevant to humanoid robotics specifically.

Include Links to Relevant Work Samples or Projects

If you've published research, contributed to open-source robotics projects, built demo videos of hardware you've designed, or have a strong GitHub profile, include those links. Greenhouse application forms often have dedicated fields for URLs. For a company pushing the boundaries of what robots can do, demonstrated passion projects in robotics or AI carry real weight — especially for candidates earlier in their careers.

ATS System: Greenhouse

Greenhouse is a structured hiring platform used widely by high-growth startups and tech companies. It organizes candidates into stages (Application Review, Phone Screen, Interview, Offer) with scorecard-based evaluation, meaning every interviewer rates you against predefined criteria. Your application data is parsed and stored in a candidate profile that recruiters search and filter using keywords, job-specific tags, and screening question responses.

Submit your resume as a PDF with selectable text — Greenhouse parses PDFs well, but image-based or scanned documents will lose data during extraction.
Use standard resume section headers like 'Experience,' 'Education,' 'Skills,' and 'Projects' so Greenhouse correctly categorizes your information.
Avoid tables, multi-column layouts, headers/footers with critical info, and text boxes — these can cause parsing errors that make your profile incomplete in the recruiter's view.
Mirror keywords from the job description naturally throughout your resume — Greenhouse enables recruiters to search candidate pools by keyword, and exact matches surface your profile faster.
Complete every field in the application form, including optional ones like LinkedIn URL, portfolio links, and 'How did you hear about us?' — completeness signals seriousness and improves your profile's searchability.
If applying to multiple Figure AI roles, submit separate tailored applications — Greenhouse tracks each submission independently and associates them with different hiring teams.
Answer screening questions thoroughly and specifically; many hiring teams at fast-growing startups use these responses as a first-pass filter before even reviewing resumes.

Complete Greenhouse Resume Guide

Interview Culture

Interviewing at Figure AI reflects the intensity and pace of a well-funded, mission-critical startup building hardware at the intersection of robotics and artificial intelligence. Based on common patterns at companies of this profile and stage, expect a process that moves quickly — often 2-4 weeks from application to offer — with a strong emphasis on both technical depth and cultural alignment. The typical interview loop involves 3-5 rounds. After the recruiter screen, technical candidates commonly face a hands-on technical assessment: this might be a live coding session, a system design discussion, a hardware design review, or a take-home challenge depending on the role. For a Quality Engineer in Metrology, expect detailed questions about measurement uncertainty, GD&T interpretation, and experience with coordinate measuring machines. For software-adjacent roles, be prepared for algorithm design, real-time systems questions, or ML model evaluation discussions. The cross-functional panel round is particularly important at Figure AI. Building a humanoid robot requires tight integration between mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, AI/ML, software, and manufacturing. Interviewers will assess whether you can communicate effectively across disciplines, handle ambiguity, and make sound tradeoffs under time pressure. Demonstrating that you can explain your work to someone outside your domain is a significant positive signal. Culture fit at Figure AI skews toward builders — people who take ownership, move fast without sacrificing quality, and feel genuine excitement about the humanoid robotics mission. Interviewers commonly look for evidence of intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness, and comfort with the inherent risk of working at a pre-revenue company solving unsolved problems. Come prepared to discuss not just what you've built, but how you navigated setbacks, made decisions with incomplete information, and collaborated under pressure. For non-technical roles like Communications or Lifecycle Marketing, expect case studies or portfolio reviews where you walk through your strategic thinking, not just outcomes. Figure AI needs marketers and operators who understand deep tech and can translate complex robotics concepts for diverse audiences.

What Figure AI Looks For

Deep domain expertise in robotics, AI/ML, manufacturing, or the specific function you're applying to — Figure AI is solving hard, novel problems and needs people who bring genuine technical depth.
Zero-to-one builder mentality: demonstrated ability to create processes, products, or teams from scratch rather than simply maintaining existing systems.
Comfort with ambiguity and rapid change — as a startup scaling toward production, priorities shift, and the best candidates thrive rather than freeze when the plan changes.
Cross-functional communication skills — building a humanoid robot is inherently multidisciplinary, and Figure AI values people who can collaborate effectively with engineers, designers, and operators outside their specialty.
Genuine passion for the humanoid robotics mission — interviewers can distinguish between someone who's excited about the technology and someone applying because the company is well-funded. Authenticity matters.
Bias toward action and speed without sacrificing quality — Figure AI operates under real competitive pressure in a race to bring humanoid robots to market, and they need people who ship.
Resilience and resourcefulness — startups at this stage encounter daily obstacles that don't have documented solutions. They look for candidates who've navigated failure and figured things out independently.
Relevant industry experience from adjacent sectors like automotive manufacturing, aerospace, consumer electronics, or defense robotics — these backgrounds translate directly to Figure AI's manufacturing and quality challenges.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does the Figure AI hiring process typically take from application to offer?

Based on common patterns at high-growth startups of Figure AI's size and funding stage, the process typically moves relatively quickly — often 2-4 weeks from initial application to offer for well-matched candidates. However, this varies significantly by role: production and operations positions may move faster due to immediate headcount needs, while senior engineering or leadership roles may involve additional rounds and take 4-6 weeks. Staying responsive to scheduling requests and being flexible with availability can meaningfully accelerate your timeline. If you haven't heard back within two weeks of applying, a polite follow-up email to the recruiter is appropriate.

Does Figure AI require a cover letter with applications?

Greenhouse-based applications at Figure AI may include an optional cover letter field, but it is not always required. That said, for competitive or non-obvious-fit applications, a concise cover letter can significantly strengthen your candidacy. Focus on three things: why you're specifically drawn to humanoid robotics (not just 'AI' broadly), what relevant experience you bring that the resume alone might not convey, and why now — why this moment in Figure AI's trajectory excites you. Keep it under 300 words. For production or associate-level roles, the cover letter is less critical than a well-tailored resume.

What resume format works best with Figure AI's Greenhouse ATS?

Submit a single-column PDF with standard section headers (Experience, Education, Skills, Projects). Avoid multi-column layouts, tables, text boxes, icons, or graphics — these look great to humans but can confuse Greenhouse's parsing engine, resulting in jumbled or missing data in your candidate profile. Use a clean, professional font (Calibri, Arial, or similar) at 10-11pt. Ensure all text is selectable (not embedded in images). Keep your resume to 1-2 pages; for production and associate-level roles, one page is sufficient, while senior engineering or leadership candidates can justify two.

Can I apply to multiple positions at Figure AI simultaneously?

Yes, Greenhouse tracks each application independently, so applying to multiple roles is both technically possible and acceptable. However, apply strategically — submitting a tailored resume and responses for 2-3 genuinely relevant roles is far more effective than blanketing 10+ positions with the same generic application. Recruiters can see all your submissions in Greenhouse, and a scattershot approach may signal lack of focus. If you're genuinely qualified for multiple roles, tailor each application to highlight the most relevant experience for that specific position.

What kind of experience level does Figure AI hire for?

Figure AI's current job listings span a wide range: 'Production Associate (All Levels)' explicitly invites entry-level candidates, while roles like 'Senior Manager, Communications' and 'Offshore BPO Operations Manager' target experienced professionals. With 121 open positions, the company is building out entire teams, which means opportunities exist for early-career candidates (especially in production, quality, and operations), mid-career specialists (engineering, marketing, customer success), and senior leaders. If you're earlier in your career, emphasize relevant projects, internships, or personal robotics work to compensate for fewer years of professional experience.

How should I prepare for a technical interview at Figure AI?

Preparation should be role-specific. For robotics and ML engineering roles, review fundamentals in areas like kinematics, dynamics, control theory, reinforcement learning, and real-time systems — and be ready to whiteboard or code solutions. For quality and metrology positions, brush up on GD&T, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis, and CMM programming. For production roles, expect questions about lean manufacturing, process documentation, and troubleshooting. Across all technical interviews, be prepared to walk through a past project in detail: the problem, your approach, the tradeoffs you made, and the outcome. Figure AI is building novel technology, so demonstrating how you think through ambiguous problems matters as much as getting the 'right' answer.

Does Figure AI offer remote work options?

As a company building physical humanoid robots, Figure AI's work is inherently hardware-centric, and most roles — especially in engineering, production, quality, and manufacturing — are expected to be on-site at their Sunnyvale, California headquarters or production facilities. Some corporate, marketing, or operations roles may offer hybrid flexibility, but fully remote positions are less common at companies in the physical robotics space. Check each job listing carefully for location requirements, as Greenhouse postings typically specify whether a role is on-site, hybrid, or remote. If location flexibility is important to you, raise it during the recruiter screen.

What should I know about Figure AI's culture before interviewing?

Figure AI's culture reflects its identity as a well-funded, fast-moving deep tech startup with a bold mission. Expect an environment that values speed, ownership, technical excellence, and genuine passion for robotics. The company has grown rapidly since its 2022 founding, which means processes are still being built and individual contributors have outsized impact. In interviews, demonstrate that you're comfortable with ambiguity, energized by hard problems, and capable of operating without detailed playbooks. Referencing Figure AI's public milestones — like their OpenAI partnership, BMW manufacturing pilot, or Figure 02 demonstrations — shows you've done your homework and are engaged with the company's trajectory, not just its funding headlines.

How do I follow up after submitting an application to Figure AI?

After submitting through Greenhouse, you'll typically receive an automated confirmation email. If you haven't heard back within 10-14 business days, a brief, professional follow-up is appropriate. The most effective approach is to connect with a Figure AI recruiter or hiring manager on LinkedIn with a personalized message that references the specific role you applied for and briefly highlights your most relevant qualification. Avoid generic messages — mention something specific about Figure AI's technology or mission. Keep the tone respectful of their time; recruiting teams at companies with 121+ open positions are managing high volumes, and a concise, relevant follow-up is far more effective than a lengthy email.

Sample Open Positions

Sources

Figure AI Careers Page — Figure AI
Figure AI Company Overview and Mission — Figure AI
Greenhouse ATS Help Center — Submitting Applications — Greenhouse Software
Figure AI Glassdoor Reviews and Interview Insights — Glassdoor