Applied Research Scientist

Meta; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 154,000 - 217,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity / Stock options

Benefits

Job summary

Meta's Agent Data and Optimization team is seeking a Research Scientist to own applied research from hypothesis to measured results, building RL environments and evaluation benchmarks for Muse models. You will identify capability gaps, design experiments, curate data pipelines, and analyze agent behavior to distinguish genuine progress from shortcuts, working closely with model developers.

This role blends research judgment with hands-on engineering in a startup-like, well-funded setting to push

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, AI, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of experience leading major research initiatives or influencing technical strategy.
• Proven ability to build reliable technical systems and evaluate their results.
• Strong track record of first-author publications and presenting AI work.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Identify capability gaps and formulate research questions that advance AI agents’ reasoning and problem solving.
• Develop research methods, benchmarks and experimental environments with reliable, reproducible measurements.
• Create and curate high-quality data, and build pipelines that support model training and evaluation.
• Analyze agent behavior and design feedback that rewards useful progress and tests generalization.
• Lead research from hypothesis through implementation and measured results, collaborating with Meta’s model development and research teams.

Skills

Lead research initiatives

Influence technical strategy

Build reliable systems

Publish AI research

Present research results

Education

PhD in Computer Science or AI

Bachelor's in CS/CS Eng

Job description

This role is within the Agent Data and Optimization team. The team is the Applied AI org’s data and research environment engine: we turn world‑class technical expertise into the training data, reinforcement learning (RL) environments, evaluations, and feedback loops that make Meta’s models and the products built on them the best in the world. Our research and agentic work directly improves Muse family of models and powers products such as Muse Code and the Muse assistant. This unique data and research infrastructure is a key differentiator for Meta, complementing our investments in compute and model architecture.

Why this is exciting:

You’ll work directly on frontier AI models, not adjacent to them. We’re a significant, well‑funded organization with the ethos of an AI startup: new, highly entrepreneurial, flexible, and already delivering measurable impact. Research and RL environments from our team went directly into the latest Muse release and helped the Muse family of models compete at the frontier. As a Research Scientist, you’ll independently own ambitious applied research from question to measured result. You’ll identify capability gaps, formulate hypotheses, develop methods and benchmarks, build experimental environments and high‑quality RL environments, and analyze agent behavior to distinguish genuine progress from shortcuts. The work centers on advancing AI through:

• Original research that develops agents’ ability to reason, experiment and solve complex technical problems.
• Evaluation and benchmarks that measure meaningful progress and generalization.
• High‑quality RL environments grounded in expert knowledge.

Why Join Us

• Shape what frontier models can do. Your expertise helps identify the capabilities to develop and the evidence used to measure progress. Your work will directly improve the family of Muse models and push the boundaries of what frontier AI can do.
• Own the research from idea to results. Take a research question from definition through implementation, experiments and measured results. You’ll combine research judgment with hands‑on engineering and help set the technical direction of your work.
• Work on open research questions. Investigate how agents learn from feedback, make progress across successive experiments and apply what they learn to new problems. Develop methods that can distinguish genuine improvement from errors and shortcuts.
• Collaborate across research and engineering. Work with other domain experts, engineers and researchers across Applied AI. Build on shared knowledge, challenge assumptions and turn promising ideas into reproducible methods and systems.

Applied Research Scientist Responsibilities:

• Identify capability gaps and formulate research questions that advance AI agents’ reasoning and problem‑solving abilities.
• Develop research methods, benchmarks and experimental environments with reliable, reproducible measurements.
• Create and curate high‑quality data, and build pipelines that support model training and evaluation.
• Analyze agent behavior and design feedback that rewards useful progress and tests generalization to new problems.
• Lead research from hypothesis through implementation and measured results, collaborating with Meta’s model development and research teams.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A PhD in Computer Science, AI, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 3+ Years Experience leading major research initiatives or influencing technical strategy across teams
• Demonstrated ability to build reliable technical systems and evaluate their results
• A strong track record of first‑author publication on AI-related topics with experience presenting the work
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience

About Meta:

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.

Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affinitive 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].

$154,003/year to $217,000/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.