AI Research Scientist

AKIVA AI, LLC; Leesburg (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Professional development

Veteran-owned company values

Impactful client engagements

Long-term contract engagement

AI productivity tools provided

401(k) with generous company match

Medical Insurance

Vision Insurance

Short-Term & Long-Term Disability

Paid Time Off

Profit Sharing

Job summary

AKIVA AI, LLC is seeking an accomplished research-focused professional to conduct applied and fundamental research in agentic systems, custom inference, and emerging AI paradigms. You will publish, prototype, and translate breakthroughs into production capabilities used by enterprise and government clients.

The role emphasizes leadership in multi-agent systems, RL for tool use, and collaboration with engineering to turn research artifacts into production systems, while mentoring junior

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or related discipline (or equivalent research output).
• Strong implementation skills in PyTorch and modern ML tooling.
• Track record of translating research into deployed systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead original research in multi-agent systems, RL for tool use, custom inference, or post-training methods (RLHF, DPO, GRPO)
• Author publications and technical reports; represent AKIVA at top-tier venues
• Prototype novel architectures and evaluation methodologies
• Collaborate with engineering to harden research artifacts into production systems
• Mentor junior researchers and applied AI engineers

Skills

PyTorch

ML tooling

Research deployment

Education

PhD in Computer Science / ML

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Hugging Face Transformers

Weights & Biases

Ray

Job description

AKIVA is an AI-native engineering firm specializing in enterprise services, domain-specific solutions, and high-performance infrastructure from strategy through deployment. We build innovative systems that drive measurable results for commercial enterprises and government agencies. AKIVA is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

Position Overview

Conduct applied and fundamental research in agentic systems, custom inference, and emerging AI paradigms. Publish, prototype, and translate breakthroughs into production capabilities used by enterprise and government clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead original research in multi-agent systems, RL for tool use, custom inference, or post-training methods (RLHF, DPO, GRPO)
• Author publications and technical reports; represent AKIVA at top-tier venues
• Prototype novel architectures and evaluation methodologies
• Collaborate with engineering to harden research artifacts into production systems
• Mentor junior researchers and applied AI engineers

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or related discipline (or equivalent research output)
• Strong implementation skills in PyTorch and modern ML tooling
• Track record of translating research into deployed systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Postdoctoral or industry research lab experience
• Peer-reviewed publications, preprints, or technical reports in relevant areas of AI, ML, or applied research
• Open-source contributions to widely used ML libraries
• Experience with reinforcement learning, mechanistic interpretability, or alignment research

Tools, Technologies & Frameworks

PyTorch, JAX, Hugging Face Transformers, Weights & Biases, Ray, custom training infrastructure

What AKIVA Offers

• Professional development and skill-building opportunities
• Supportive management team with Veteran-owned company values
• Opportunity to work on impactful client engagements
• Long-term contract engagement with potential for extension
• AI productivity tools and training provided at no cost to employees
• 401(k) with generous company match
• Medical Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Short-Term & Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Profit Sharing

AKIVA is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB).

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

AKIVA is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical disability, marital status, military and Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We believe that diversity among our teammates is critical to our success as a company, and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people within a qualified candidate pool.