Applied Researcher

NextGenEnergyJobs; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

NextGenEnergyJobs, located in Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, is searching for an expert in AI and robotics to lead the architectural exploration of Vision-Language Models (VLM) and Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models. The role includes providing technical mentorship to an engineering team and bridging the gap between theory and practical implementation.

The ideal candidate will possess a PhD in a related field, deep programming skills in Python, and a strong preference for experience in modern C++. Passion for large-scale infrastructure and innovation is essential.

Qualifications

• PhD Graduate in AI, Computer Science, or Robotics with a top-tier research background.
• Hands-on experience with troubleshooting architectures in VLM/VLA models.
• Strong programming skills in Python required; C++ preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural exploration of VLM/VLA models for practical applications.
• Mentor engineering team and act as a subject matter expert.
• Optimize model architectures for high-performance computing environments.

Skills

Expertise in Vision-Language Models

Strong programming skills in Python

Deep programming in modern C++

Ability to troubleshoot architectures

Experience in large-scale infrastructure

Education

PhD Graduate in AI, Computer Science, or Robotics

Job description

Key Responsibilities

• Architectural Exploration: Deep dive into VLM/VLA architectures to determine their viability for our specific problem sets.
• Technical Mentorship: Act as the subject matter expert and guide for an exceptionally capable engineering team eager to move into this space.
• Practical Implementation: Bridge the gap between high-level academic theory and practical, scalable applications.
• Innovation: Redesign and optimize model architectures to leverage high-performance computing environments like Aurora.

Requirements

• PhD Graduate in AI, Computer Science, or Robotics (Top-tier research lab background)
• Deep expertise in Vision-Language Models (VLM) and Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models
• Hands‑on experience with "jagged edges"—knowing where current architectures fail and how to troubleshoot them
• Practical researcher: Ability to translate complex papers into production-ready code
• Collaborative Guide: Willingness to mentor existing team members and bridge the knowledge gap
• Excitement for large‑scale infrastructure and supercomputing environments (e.g., Aurora)
• Architectural Creativity: Ability to rethink and redo entire model architectures rather than just fine‑tuning
• Strong programming skills in Python
• Preference for a strong depth programming in modern C++