Frontier AI Scientist: Fast-Paced, Client-Facing

Fdetimes; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Labelbox is seeking a Senior ML Research Scientist to join our Forward Deployed Research Team. You will engage with frontier AI labs, reason about data strategies in real time, and fine-tune open-weight models to validate our data methodology on client data.

You’ll drive experiments, collaborate on publications and benchmarks, and help translate field findings into publishable work with high impact for enterprise AI programs.

Qualifications

• PhD in ML/NLP/CS with strong exposure to experimental validation.
• Hands-on experience fine-tuning large language models (open-weight like Llama, Mistral, Qwen).
• Deep understanding of LLM training stages: pretraining, supervised fine-tuning, RLHF/DPO.
• Ability to design rigorous experiments, form hypotheses, and analyze results.

Responsibilities

• Engage with frontier lab research teams during client scoping meetings as a technical peer.
• Fine-tune open-weight models on client data to validate data methodology.
• Design and run ablation studies to quantify data strategy impact.
• Collaborate with Applied Research on publications, benchmarks, and client deliverables.

Skills

PhD in ML/NLP/CS

Fine-tuning LLMs

LLM training pipelines

Experiment design & statistics

Fast problem solving

Clear communication

Education

MS or PhD in ML, NLP, CS

Job description

Labelbox is seeking a Senior ML Research Scientist to join our Forward Deployed Research Team. You will engage with frontier AI labs, reason about data strategies in real time, and fine-tune open-weight models to validate our data methodology on client data.

You’ll drive experiments, collaborate on publications and benchmarks, and help translate field findings into publishable work with high impact for enterprise AI programs.