Research Engineer/ Applied Scientist

WisdomAI; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 238,000 - 322,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

WisdomAI in California seeks a senior ML/NLP researcher to design and run rigorous experiments, improve NL-to-SQL generation, and advance multi-turn conversational understanding. You will prototype, validate, and productionize ML techniques, including fine‑tuning, distillation, and retrieval optimization, while evaluating new foundation models for rapid production impact.

The role emphasizes data‑driven decisions balancing quality, latency, cost, and reliability, with a strong focus on producing

Qualifications

• Master's degree in CS/ML/AI/NLP required; PhD a strong plus.
• Proven track record shipping production AI systems.
• Deep experience with modern LLMs and agent architectures.
• Strong software engineering with production‑quality Python.

Responsibilities

• Design and run rigorous experiments to improve NL-to-SQL generation, retrieval, ranking, and agentic reasoning.
• Advance multi-turn conversational understanding with memory, context retention, and clarification strategies.
• Build robust evaluation frameworks, benchmarks, and LLM-as-a-judge methodologies.
• Prototype, validate, and productionize ML techniques including fine‑tuning, distillation, and retrieval optimization.
• Evaluate emerging foundation models and translate advances into production experiments.
• Contribute to the AI community via technical reports or conference talks.

Skills

Applied ML

NLP

LLMs

Python

Production AI

Experimentation

Education

Master's degree in CS/ML/AI/NLP

PhD preferred

Tools

Python (production)

AI frameworks (PyTorch/TensorFlow)

Job description

We are WisdomAI.

We exist to help people unlock clarity from complexity. WisdomAI builds AI-powered analytics that put answers directly in the hands of the people closest to the business. Our platform doesn’t just surface insights — it explains the why behind them, helping teams move from data to decisions with speed, confidence, and context.

We're trusted by companies like Cisco, Patreon, and Rubrik — and we’re just getting started. The problems here are hard, and the expectations are high. Our team is energized by both. If you’re compelled by ambitious problems, high standards, and meaningful ownership, you’ll thrive here.

What You’ll Do

• Design and run rigorous experiments, including ablations, benchmarking, and error analysis, to improve NL-to-SQL generation, retrieval, ranking, and agentic reasoning.
• Advance multi-turn conversational understanding through improved context retention, entity resolution, conversational memory, and intelligent clarification strategies.
• Build robust evaluation frameworks, including automated benchmarks, regression suites, and LLM-as-a-judge methodologies to measure and improve model quality.
• Prototype, validate, and productionize ML techniques, including fine‑tuning, distillation, retrieval optimization, and agent architectures.
• Evaluate emerging foundation models and AI research, rapidly translating promising advances into production experiments.
• Contribute to the broader AI community through technical reports, or conference talks.

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in applied machine learning, NLP, large language models, or AI research, with a proven track record of shipping production AI systems.
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, NLP, or a related field required; PhD is a strong plus.
• Deep experience with modern LLMs and agent architectures.
• Strong software engineering skills with production‑quality Python and experience using modern AI frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to design rigorous evaluation frameworks, benchmark models, and make data‑driven decisions balancing quality, latency, cost, and reliability.
• Demonstrated ability to improve model cost/quality through experimentation—including retrieval optimization, fine‑tuning, distillation, inference optimization, and agent design.

Nice to Have

• Publications at leading AI or NLP conferences (ACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, NAACL, CVPR) or meaningful contributions to open‑source AI projects.
• Experience adapting foundation models and deploying production‑scale LLM systems.

You’ll Thrive Here If You…

• Think scientifically and validate ideas through rigorous experimentation.
• Care equally about elegant research and measurable production impact.
• Enjoy digging into production failure cases to uncover new research directions.
• Balance curiosity with pragmatism, you know when to explore and when to ship.
• Want your work to directly influence how enterprises interact with AI every day.

Compensation: The expected starting base salary for this role is $280,000+, in addition to equity and benefits. Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, technical depth, interview performance, and overall alignment with the role. We believe in paying competitively for exceptional talent and leveling compensation based on demonstrated impact.

WisdomAI is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive team where everyone can do their best work.