Edge AI Research Engineer-Associate Staff

MIT Lincoln Laboratory; Lexington (MA); On-site; USD 116,000 - 182,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health plans

MIT‑funded pension

Matching 401K

Paid leave

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Embedded and AI Systems Group seeks an early‑career Edge AI Research Engineer to develop, optimize, and deploy ML models on resource‑constrained platforms. This role focuses on bridging cutting‑edge AI research with practical implementations that operate under real‑world constraints.

You will collaborate with software and platform teams to integrate AI into end‑to‑end systems, balance accuracy, compute, latency, and energy, and contribute to project leadership while

Qualifications

• MS or BS with relevant ML/AI/DL coursework and research.
• Experience training and evaluating ML models.
• Experience deploying ML on edge/embedded systems.
• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Investigate new algorithms and models for efficient, robust AI.
• Develop concepts into working prototypes.
• Adapt ML models for low power edge environments.
• Prototype and evaluate AI systems with noisy real-world data.
• Collaborate with software/platform teams to integrate AI.
• Evaluate performance, robustness, and resource usage.
• Contribute to project leadership and continuous learning.

Skills

ML model development

Python programming

PyTorch

Edge deployment

Tradeoff optimization

Education

Master's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering

Tools

TensorRT

ONNX Runtime

CUDA

Job description

Edge AI Research Engineer-Associate Staff

TheEmbedded and AI Systems Group designs and prototypes cutting-edge AI and edge processing systems to meet the most demanding national security challenges. Our research team — comprising top experts from MIT Lincoln Laboratory and close collaborators from the DAF-MIT AI Accelerator — applies AI to sensor exploitation, human–AI teaming, decision support, and mission autonomy, with a strong emphasis on deploying AI at the tactical edge. In addition, the group develops tools and techniques for establishing trust in AI and applying AI to engineering design and scientific discovery. We take technologies from concept to prototype, and ultimately to real-world demonstrations on relevant platforms — bridging the gap between research and operational deployment.

We develop advanced AI capabilities for ISR, edge sensing, autonomy, and decision‑making systems, with a focus on transitioning early‑stage research into working prototypes. Our work emphasizes deploying AI in real‑world environments with constrained compute, power, and data.

Position Description

We are seeking an early‑career AI Research Engineer to develop, optimize, and deploy machine learning models on resource‑constrained (low size, weight, and power) platforms. This role focuses on bridging cutting‑edge AI research with practical implementations that operate reliably under real‑world constraints, including limited compute, noisy data, and degraded conditions.

The ideal candidate is motivated to make AI systems work outside of idealized settings—balancing performance, efficiency, and robustness.

Key Responsibilities

• Investigate new algorithms, model architectures, and system approaches for efficient and robust AI
• Develop research concepts into working prototypes
• Develop and adapt machine learning models for deployment in low power and edge environments
• Prototype and evaluate AI systems using limited, noisy, or imperfect real‑world data
• Collaborate with software and platform teams to integrate AI into end‑to‑end systems
• Evaluate system performance, robustness, repeatability and resource usage under real‑world conditions
• Contribute to project leadership and participate in a culture of continuous learning, with opportunities to advance as a researcher and technical expert

Minimum Qualifications

• Masters with 0–3 years of experience, or Bachelors with 3–5 years of experience, in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field
• Experience developing, training, adapting and assessing machine learning models
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch)
• Experience deploying ML models on edge or embedded systems
• Understanding of tradeoffs between accuracy, compute, latency, and energy

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands‑on experience with model optimization techniques such as quantization, pruning, and distillation
• Experience taking a model from training to deployed system is strongly preferred
• Familiarity with edge AI toolchains (e.g., TensorRT, ONNX Runtime, CUDA)
• Proficiency in C/C++ or other performance‑oriented programming languages
• Experience with CI/CD development pipelines
• Experience working with real‑world sensor data, including limited or noisy datasets
• Experience evaluating system robustness under degraded conditions
• Familiarity with test & evaluation methodologies for ML systems
• Exposure to formal methods or verification approaches

Recent Graduate Hiring Range: $116,400 - $140,000

Experienced Hiring Range: $116,400 - $182,200

Disclaimer: MIT Lincoln Laboratory provides a typical hiring range as a good faith estimate of what we reasonably expect to offer for this position at the time of posting. The final salary offered to a selected candidate will depend on various factors, including—but not limited to—the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate’s experience, skills and education/training, internal equity considerations and applicable legal requirements. This range reflects base salary only and does not include additional forms of compensation or benefits.

At MIT Lincoln Laboratory, our exceptional career opportunities include many outstanding benefits to help you stay healthy, feel supported, and enjoy a fulfilling work‑life balance. Benefits offered to employees include:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans
• MIT‑funded pension
• Matching 401K
• Paid leave (including vacation, sick, parental, military, etc.)
• Tuition reimbursement and continuing education programs

Selected candidate will be subject to a pre‑employment background investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret level DoD security clearance.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability status, or genetic information; U.S. citizenship is required.