Principal Applied Scientist

Oracle Corporation; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Oracle Corporation in the United States seeks an experienced Applied Researcher to lead end-to-end ML/AI projects, from literature review to production deployment. You will design, train, and optimize models and build scalable architectures while writing reliable code and documenting results.

You will collaborate with science, engineering, and product teams, publish findings, contribute to patents and white papers, and mentor junior staff as part of building research capability.

Qualifications

• Collaborates with science, engineering and product teams to translate needs into research plans and production-ready solutions.
• Leads end-to-end applied research from literature reviews to production deployment.

Responsibilities

• Identify business needs and propose solutions based on scientific methods.
• Perform literature reviews and state-of-the-art analyses.
• Create science plans to address product/business problems.
• Develop POCs or experiments to demonstrate feasibility and secure resources.
• Design and optimize ML/AI architectures including training and evaluation.
• Communicate insights to diverse audiences; contribute patents and white papers.
• Develop reliable, well-documented code with version control and testing.
• Ship, monitor, and iterate models in production.
• Collaborate with teams to deploy solutions and ensure successful delivery.
• Lead research publications and maintain documentation for processes and results.
• Mentor junior team members and participate in continuous learning.

Skills

Collaboration

ML/AI

Data prep

Experimentation

Model training

Job description

Independently partners with science, engineering, and product teams to translate business needs into a clear research plan and production-ready solutions. Leads end-to-end applied research: surveying state of the art, preparing high-quality datasets, running POCs/experiments, and designing, training, and optimizing ML/AI models and solution architectures. Writes reliable, well-documented code, following best practices for version control, testing, and deployment, and collaborate closely to ship, monitor, and iterate on models in production. Distill insights for diverse audiences, contribute patents, white papers, and technical docs, and demonstrate deep expertise in a business-critical research area. Engage with the broader scientific community through publications, peer review, and internal collaborations.

Internal Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Solution Identification:

• Independently collaborates with science, engineering, and product teams to identify business and product needs to create and implement solutions, promote innovation, and drive model implementations.
• Independently performs literature reviews and state-of-the-art analyses to understand the problem that needs to be solved.
• Creates a science plan to address product and/or business problems.
• Serves as a leading contributor on the identification of solutions based on the scientific process (e.g., including modeling approaches, evaluation techniques, data collections).

Solution Development – Applied Research:

• Develops and pilots research proofs-of-concept (POCs) or research experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed solutions, gather supporting evidence, and secure resources for applied research.
• Independently identifies and prepares datasets for use in applied research. Ensures datasets meet quality standards, and identifies gaps in the data.
• Contributes to the design of and conducts research on new theories, tools, and methodologies to transfer and apply state-of-the-art technologies into products and services or make advancements in the field.

Solution Development:

• Designs, develops, and optimizes ML and AI technologies, such as model training/fine-tuning and computation optimizations.
• Designs and reviews the architecture of ML and AI solutions, such as data, model, training, and evaluation, employing best practices.

Solution Development – Articulating Research Insights:

• Independently identifies meaningful insights from data and metadata sources from analysis and experiments.
• Interprets and communicates insights and findings to cross-level and cross-functional audience.
• Creates patents, white papers, or other technical documentation related to applied research outcomes.

Solution Delivery – Coding and Documentation:

• Develops efficient, bug‑free, medium‑complexity code from scratch, and properly maintains and organizes existing codebase.
• Implements best practices for version control, code review, and code delivery/deployment.
• Builds and maintains professional documentation for technical processes (experimentation, data collection and analyses, model building).
• Tests and reviews code for bugs.

Solution Delivery:

• Collaborates with fellow technical teams to ensure the successful and timely delivery of solutions and integration of services.
• Collaborates with software engineers and/or machine learning engineers to deploy solutions into production environments.
• Participates in the peer review of solutions prior to delivery.
• Coordinates with team members for the delivery of solutions.
• Ensures delivered solutions successfully solve product and/or business problems.
• Independently collaborates with operational teams to evaluate and monitor solutions in production.

Building Research Capability – Research Excellence:

• Demonstrates advanced knowledge in at least one business‑critical applied research technology area.
• Applies advanced domain knowledge and industry best practices to applied research.

Building Research Capability – Research Community Presence:

• Leads the publication and presentation of research findings and papers in conferences, research and industry outlets, etc.
• Participates in the scientific community by providing peer review and feedback.
• Establishes collaboration with internal research labs.

Core Responsibilities

Planning & Execution:

• Manages and coordinates moderately complex tasks, monitoring timelines and deliverables to ensure timely completion and adherence to requirements for a moderately sized project or initiative.
• Efficiently delegates, monitors, and prioritizes work across multiple projects, providing technical oversight and adjusting plans to address shifts in resources or timelines.

Collaboration & Partnership:

• Collaborates across the organization to align on expectations and achieve shared objectives.
• Leverages understanding of business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to ensure proposed solutions meet their needs.
• Supports inclusivity by actively seeking and listening to diverse perspectives, ensuring others feel heard and respected.

Problem Solving:

• Identifies and addresses moderately complex issues by analyzing a wide range of data and/or information to identify solutions in accordance with standard practices.
• Proactively escalates unresolved or critical issues with a thorough assessment and suggests potential solutions.
• Reviews, contributes to, and documents problem solving strategies.

Continuous Learning:

• Pursues learning opportunities to expand knowledge and skills and/or tools in new areas and stays abreast of the latest industry trends and best practices.
• Proactively seeks and leverages ongoing feedback and training to improve skills.
• Coaches and mentors junior team members, fostering continuous learning and knowledge sharing within and across teams.

Continuous Improvement:

• Develops ideas, recommends updates, and/or collaborates on the implementation of process improvements to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, protocols, and workflows across teams, and evaluates the impact on key stakeholders.
• Solicits feedback from others on ideas for alternative approaches and methods for continued improvement.

Performance and Development:

• Contributes to the talent development pipeline by participating in candidate interviews, assessing candidates, and providing hiring recommendations.

External Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Solution Identification:

• Independently collaborates with science, engineering, and product teams to identify business and product needs to create and implement solutions, promote innovation, and drive model implementations.
• Independently performs literature reviews and state-of-the-art analyses to understand the problem that needs to be solved.
• Creates a science plan to address product and/or business problems.
• Serves as a leading contributor on the identification of solutions based on the scientific process (e.g., including modeling approaches, evaluation techniques, data collections).

Solution Development – Applied Research:

• Develops and pilots research proofs-of-concept (POCs) or research experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed solutions, gather supporting evidence, and secure resources for applied research.
• Independently identifies and prepares datasets for use in applied research. Ensures datasets meet quality standards, and identifies gaps in the data.
• Contributes to the design of and conducts research on new theories, tools, and methodologies to transfer and apply state-of-the‑art technologies into products and services or make advancements in the field.

Solution Development:

• Designs, develops, and optimizes ML and AI technologies, such as model training/fine‑tuning and computation optimizations.
• Designs and reviews the architecture of ML and AI solutions, such as data, model, training, and evaluation, employing best practices.

Solution Development – Articulating Research Insights:

• Independently identifies meaningful insights from data and metadata sources from analysis and experiments.
• Interprets and communicates insights and findings to cross-level and cross-functional audience.
• Creates patents, white papers, or other technical documentation related to applied research outcomes.

Solution Delivery – Coding and Documentation:

• Develops efficient, bug‑free, medium‑complexity code from scratch, and properly maintains and organizes existing codebase.
• Implements best practices for version control, code review, and code delivery/deployment.
• Builds and maintains professional documentation for technical processes (experimentation, data collection and analyses, model building).
• Tests and reviews code for bugs.

Solution Delivery:

• Collaborates with fellow technical teams to ensure the successful and timely delivery of solutions and integration of services.
• Collaborates with software engineers and/or machine learning engineers to deploy solutions into production environments.
• Participates in the peer review of solutions prior to delivery.
• Coordinates with team members for the delivery of solutions.
• Ensures delivered solutions successfully solve product and/or business problems.
• Independently collaborates with operational teams to evaluate and monitor solutions in production.

Building Research Capability – Research Excellence:

• Demonstrates advanced knowledge in at least one business‑critical applied research technology area.
• Applies advanced domain knowledge and industry best practices to applied research.

Building Research Capability – Research Community Presence:

• Leads the publication and presentation of research findings and papers in conferences, research and industry outlets, etc.
• Participates in the scientific community by providing peer review and feedback.
• Establishes collaboration with internal research labs.

Core Responsibilities

Planning & Execution:

• Manages and coordinates moderately complex tasks, monitoring timelines and deliverables to ensure timely completion and adherence to requirements for a moderately sized project or initiative.
• Efficiently delegates, monitors, and prioritizes work across multiple projects, providing technical oversight and adjusting plans to address shifts in resources or timelines.

Collaboration & Partnership:

• Collaborates across the organization to align on expectations and achieve shared objectives.
• Leverages understanding of business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to ensure proposed solutions meet their needs.
• Supports inclusivity by actively seeking and listening to diverse perspectives, ensuring others feel heard and respected.

Problem Solving:

• Identifies and addresses moderately complex issues by analyzing a wide range of data and/or information to identify solutions in accordance with standard practices.
• Proactively escalates unresolved or critical issues with a thorough assessment and suggests potential solutions.
• Reviews, contributes to, and documents problem solving strategies.

Continuous Learning:

• Pursues learning opportunities to expand knowledge and skills and/or tools in new areas and stays abreast of the latest industry trends and best practices.
• Proactively seeks and leverages ongoing feedback and training to improve skills.
• Coaches and mentors junior team members, fostering continuous learning and knowledge sharing within and across teams.

Continuous Improvement:

• Develops ideas, recommends updates, and/or collaborates on the implementation of process improvements to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of processes, protocols, and workflows across teams, and evaluates the impact on key stakeholders.
• Solicits feedback from others on ideas for alternative approaches and methods for continued improvement.

Performance and Development:

• Contributes to the talent development pipeline by participating in candidate interviews, assessing candidates, and providing hiring recommendations.