Applied Post-Training LLM Research Scientist

Modal Labs; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Modal Labs is building an AI infrastructure platform and seeks a researcher focused on post-training LLMs. You will work with the research lead to pick high-impact bets and own them from idea to production, alongside our engineering and product teams.

You will partner with customers and Forward Deployed Engineers to train models, distill insights, and extend collaborations with external labs. This role requires in-person work in NYC or San Francisco and a strong track record of shipping research.

Qualifications

• A research-leaning background in post-training LLMs.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end post-training research bets: async and agentic RL, on-policy distillation, long-context RL.
• Collaborate with customers and Forward Deployed Engineers to train models.
• Carry collaborations with outside research labs (e.g., ZLab on DFlash).
• Turn frontier post-training techniques into products with engineering teams.
• Help shape the research agenda to guide future work.

Skills

Post-training LLMs

Product sense

Open research

Job description

Modal Labs is building an AI infrastructure platform and seeks a researcher focused on post-training LLMs. You will work with the research lead to pick high-impact bets and own them from idea to production, alongside our engineering and product teams.

You will partner with customers and Forward Deployed Engineers to train models, distill insights, and extend collaborations with external labs. This role requires in-person work in NYC or San Francisco and a strong track record of shipping research.