Lead Applied Scientist

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 148,000 - 274,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work

Learning & growth

Flexible vacation

Mental health days

Inclusive culture

Volunteer days

Pro bono projects

Justice & transparency

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Lead Applied Scientist to shape research and applied AI directions in a complex media environment. You will lead experimentation, evaluation, and deployment to turn ML ideas into production-ready capabilities, partnering with product and engineering to influence roadmaps.

This remote role offers flexible work arrangements, competitive compensation, and opportunities to mentor scientists while solving high-value customer problems with RAG, knowledge graphs, and legal document

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• 7+ years hands-on experience in production IR, NLP, ML, or GenAI systems.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams to deliver AI capabilities.
• Strong product mindset to translate customer problems into AI applications.
• Proven ability to influence product roadmaps with novel methods.
• Outstanding communication and analytical skills.
• Deep expertise in RAG architectures and evaluation methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Define research strategy aligned with the organization's AI/ML roadmap
• Lead initiatives from experimentation to production-ready AI capabilities
• Drive innovation in legal reasoning, document understanding, and knowledge graphs
• Design and advance RAG architectures and agentic frameworks
• Establish best practices and technical standards across the Labs organization
• Translate customer problems into effective AI solutions
• Mentor scientists and provide thought leadership in the AI community

Skills

7+ years experience in production AI/N

Cross-functional leadership

Product mindset

Roadmap influence

Strong communication

RAG architectures

Education

PhD or Master’s in CS/ML or related field

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Lead Applied Scientist to join the team of a leader in the Media space.

This role will shape the research and applied AI direction for a complex, information-rich media environment, turning advanced machine learning ideas into production-ready capabilities. You will lead work across experimentation, evaluation, and deployment, with a strong focus on solving high-value customer problems through intelligent systems. The position calls for close partnership with product and technical teams to influence the roadmap and translate emerging methods into practical business impact. It is well suited for someone who can blend scientific rigor, product thinking, and cross-functional leadership.

Location: Remote

Compensation: $147,600 – $274,200 annually

Responsibilities

• Define research strategy aligned with the organization's AI/ML roadmap
• Lead initiatives from experimentation to production-ready AI capabilities
• Drive innovation in legal reasoning, document understanding, and knowledge graphs
• Design and advance RAG architectures and agentic frameworks
• Establish best practices and technical standards across the Labs organization
• Translate customer problems into effective AI solutions
• Mentor scientists and provide thought leadership in the AI community

Qualifications

• PhD or Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field
• 7+ years of hands—on experience in production IR, NLP, ML, or GenAI systems
• Experience leading cross—functional teams to deliver AI capabilities
• Strong product mindset to translate customer problems into AI applications
• Proven ability to influence product roadmaps with novel methods
• Outstanding communication and analytical skills
• Deep expertise in RAG architectures and evaluation methodologies

Benefits

• Flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year
• Continuous learning and skill development opportunities
• Comprehensive benefits including flexible vacation and mental health days
• Award-winning culture focused on inclusion and belonging
• Two paid volunteer days off and opportunities for pro-bono projects
• Impactful work contributing to justice, truth, and transparency

Our client is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification—your background could be exactly what this team needs.