AI Applied Researcher

Accenture; Dublin; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture Ireland is seeking an Applied Scientist to join the AI R&D team, translating state-of-the-art ML/AI into practical, scalable solutions across datasets, products and client environments.

This role blends research with hands-on development, from problem formulation to deployment and measurable business outcomes, including collaboration with senior researchers to build prototypes and disseminate findings.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree with 2–3 years industry experience or PhD in AI/ML/NLP.
• Strong ML foundation: supervised learning, embeddings, metrics, data prep.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking.
• Clear written and verbal communication.
• Experimental design with baselines and metrics.

Responsibilities

• Review and summarize the latest AI research relevant to domain adaptation and reasoning.
• Adapt foundation and compact language models to specialized domains using fine-tuning and LoRA.
• Design and implement agentic LLM systems that use external tools for precise tasks.
• Collaborate with Senior Research Scientists to rapidly design and test proofs-of-concepts.
• Translate research findings into clear papers and presentations for academics and business.
• Create narratives and demonstrations that show the value of research outcomes.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

ML fundamentals

Experiment design

Communication

Education

Master's in CS/AI

Job description

Job Description:

Join the Accenture Labs’ AI R&D Team and work on core AI Models / technology that work across multiple domains.

The Opportunity

As an Applied Scientist, you will sit at the intersection of advanced AI research and real-world business impact. You will translate state-of-the-art machine learning and AI techniques into practical, scalable solutions that solve complex problems across real datasets, products, and client environments.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys moving beyond pure research to own the end-to-end lifecycle of AI solutions—from problem formulation and experimentation to validation, deployment, and measurable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities & Impact

This role offers a unique mix of deep research and hands-on development:

Research Synthesis

Review, analyze, and strategically summarize the latest academic and industry research in technical domains (e.g., LLM domain adaptation, knowledge integration, reasoning techniques).

Adapt foundation and compact language models

to specialized domains using techniques such as fine-tuning, continued pre-training, distillation, and parameter-efficient methods (e.g. LoRA).

Design and implement agentic LLM systems

that integrate external tools (APIs, databases, services, rule engines) to perform precision and verifiable tasks.

Hands-on Prototype Development

Collaborate directly with Senior Research Scientists to rapidly design, build, and test Proof-of-Concepts.

Research Dissemination

Articulate complex research findings into clear, persuasive, and publishable papers and presentations for both academic and business audiences.

Strategic Storytelling

Craft engaging narratives and technical demonstrations that translate research outcomes into clear, compelling value propositions.

Job Qualifications

• Master’s plus 2-3 years industry experience or PhD in Computer Science / AI (Area of Study: AI / ML / NLP) with 1-2 years industry experience.
• Strong foundation in machine learning, including supervised learning, embeddings, evaluation metrics, and data preprocessing.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Good written and verbal communication abilities, with the capacity to structure presentations for maximum clarity and impact.
• Experimental design expertise, including the ability to design controlled experiments, define meaningful baselines, and interpret results using appropriate quantitative metrics.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with researchers, engineers, and product stakeholders in cross-functional environments.
• Ability to track, evaluate, and apply relevant research literature.
• Strong programming skills in Python, including experience with libraries such as PyTorch (preferred), TensorFlow.

Primary Skills

• Ability to implement custom models (neural networks, transformers), layers, or loss functions.
• Small Language Models (SLMs): hands-on experience building, adapting, and evaluating compact language models; understanding of domain adaptation techniques, efficiency trade-offs, and deployment constraints.
• Agentic LLMs & Tool Use: experience integrating LLMs with external tools and systems to execute structured, multi-step tasks with high precision.
• Experience integrating external knowledge sources into LLM/SLM systems, such as databases, document collections, knowledge graphs, or rule-based systems.
• Demonstrated ability to combine model reasoning, external knowledge, and tools into reliable end-to-end systems.

Bonus Skills (Not Required but Valuable)

• Prior experience in an AI research lab, applied research group, or advanced R&D environment.
• Publications, preprints, or open-source contributions.
• Exposure to responsible AI, model risk, or safety-related evaluations.
• Domain expertise in a complex or regulated field (healthcare or finance).

What’s in it for you

At Accenture Ireland, in addition to a competitive base salary, you will also have an extensive benefits package which includes pension, private health insurance, discounted gym membership, emergency caring facilities, and 2 days’ leave per year for charitable work of your choice! Flexible working arrangements can be discussed depending on the position.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 791,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities.

Visit us at www.accenture.com

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

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