AI Research Scientist, Pre-training Data - MSL FAIR

Meta; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 184,000 - 257,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Meta is seeking AI Research Scientists to help build the data foundation for advanced Large Language Models. Candidates should have expertise in LLMs, data curation, and experience leading technical initiatives.

This role involves collaborating with teams to improve data processes and contribute to groundbreaking models like Llama. Candidates with a PhD and industry experience in AI are preferred.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of industry research experience in LLM/NLP or related AI/ML models.
• Published research in leading peer-reviewed conferences in AI.
• Experience working with organic, synthetic, agentic, or reasoning data.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop foundational models.
• Improve data velocity across workflows and projects.
• Architect scalable data curation systems and pipelines.

Skills

LLM/NLP expertise

Data curation

Technical leadership

Data tooling improvement

Experience with synthetic data

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

PhD in Computer Science or related field

Tools

SQL

PyTorch

Spark

Hive

Job description

Meta is seeking AI research scientists to help build the data foundation for Meta's most advanced Large Language Models. We're looking for researchers with LLM expertise to join us on working with data at scale and to push beyond the data ceiling. Our team contributes to data curation across all stages of LLM development (pre-training, mid-training, post-training) and all domains/modalities (e.g., web, code, agent, multilingual). We tackle the hardest challenges at trillion-scale, including organic data curation, synthetic data generation, agent and interaction data, and frontier paradigms that redefine what's possible. Based in Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) within the Fundamental AI Research Organization (FAIR), you'll directly contribute to Meta’s frontier models like Llama, while having the chance to collaborate with researchers and engineers across MSL.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop Meta’s next foundational models
• Advance our understanding of data research, such as how to overcome data walls and how best to create synthetic data
• Fundamentally improve our data velocity across workflows and projects by contributing to the advancement of data tooling
• Architect efficient and scalable data curation systems and pipelines
• Execute on high priority projects in pre-training, mid-training, or post-training data curation
• Apply specialized expertise in agentic data, synthetic data, reasoning data, web parser, coding data, data scaling laws, or datamix optimization
• Lead complex technical projects end-to-end

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field
• 2+ years of industry research experience in LLM/NLP or related AI/ML models
• Experience as a formal technical lead, leading major technical initiatives with cross-functional impact, and/or influencing strategy across multiple teams
• Practical experience with pre-training or mid-training data curation for large foundational models and experience working with organic, synthetic, agentic, or reasoning data for LLMs
• Published research in leading peer-reviewed conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP) and/or demonstrated significant industry influence in the field of AI

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on frontier-quality/state-of-the-art Large Language Models
• Multiple first-author publications in leading peer-reviewed conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP)
• Hands-on experience with modeling frameworks like PyTorch
• Hands-on experience on SQL and large-scale data handling, with familiarity of frameworks like Spark and Hive

Compensation and Benefits

$184,000/year to $257,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits. Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.

Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affluent Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment. Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].