- UBTech offers up to 124 million yuan ($18 million) to hire an embodied AI chief scientist.
- The company sold over 1,000 humanoid robots in 2025, primarily targeting traditional factory roles that are increasingly difficult to fill.
Chinese robot maker UBTech is offering a sky-high annual salary to recruit a chief scientist for embodied artificial intelligence, underscoring its soaring ambitions in the AI sector.
The company announced Thursday that it is launching a global search for an embodied AI chief scientist, offering an annual salary of up to 124 million yuan ($18 million), with a starting base of 15 million yuan.
"We don't look at passports, age, or gender. We only look at one thing: can you define the future?" the company wrote in a WeChat post.
UBTech said that the embodied AI chief scientist it seeks will be the helmsman of the company's technological roadmap and a game-changer for the humanoid robot industry.
The candidate will be required to define UBTech's technology roadmap in humanoid robotics and embodied AI, while leading the development of foundational robot models such as vision-language-action models.
The appointee will also need to drive research breakthroughs in core areas, pushing cutting-edge embodied AI technologies from the laboratory into real-world scenarios, and accelerating the deployment of humanoid robots in smart manufacturing, commercial services, and home companionship.
In addition to the chief scientist role, UBTech has opened up dozens of other core positions for global recruitment.
UBTech achieved a total revenue of 2.001 billion yuan in 2025, a significant increase of 53.3% from the previous year, with its full-size humanoid robot business becoming its largest source of income.
The robotics unit contributed 821 million yuan in annual revenue, representing a staggering year-on-year surge of 2,203.7%, as deliveries of full-size humanoid robots reached 1,079 units last year.
More than 80% of these robots were deployed in industrial settings such as automobile manufacturing and smart logistics, signaling that its technology has transitioned from the laboratory validation phase to large-scale commercial application.
UBTech CEO Zhou Jian said in an interview last month that as China's aging population grows and labor costs rise, humanoid robots will first fill traditional factory roles characterized by harsh environments and recruitment difficulties.
To accelerate mass production, UBTech recently forged a strategic partnership with Siemens. Its smart manufacturing base currently under construction in Shanghai is expected to eventually exceed an annual production capacity of 3,000 units.
($1 = 6.8827 yuan)
