Research Engineer / Scientist – Modeling

Percepta; New York (NY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Percepta is searching for a Research Engineer/Scientist in New York to lead advancements in large language model (LLM) development and deployment. You will work on optimization, reinforcement learning, and model architectures, partnering with Embedded Product Managers to enhance decision systems.

Your role requires an MS/PhD in Computer Science or related field, and deep expertise in ML fundamentals. With a focus on impact across various sectors, you will prototype training pipelines and communicate outcomes effectively.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent experience.
• Depth in LLM and ML fundamentals.
• Comfort implementing and debugging large-scale ML systems.

Responsibilities

• Identify impactful problems and design research strategies.
• Prototype and scale training pipelines for large language models.
• Conduct in-the-wild evaluations that drive value.

Skills

Large language model development

Reinforcement learning

Machine learning

Collaboration with product teams

Research strategy design

Education

MS/PhD in Computer Science or related field

Tools

High-performance distributed training infrastructure

Job description

About The Role

As a Research Engineer/Scientist (LLM Modeling) at Percepta, you will advance the frontier of large-scale language model building and deployment. You will work on pre‑training, post‑training (instruction tuning, alignment, distillation), reinforcement learning, and the design of specialized architectures to push the boundaries of reasoning, decision‑making, and adaptability in critical industries.

You’ll collaborate closely with Embedded Product Managers and engineers to ensure our decision systems are innovative and pragmatically useful in transforming how companies operate.

Responsibilities

• Identify impactful problems and design research strategies across pre‑training, post‑training, reinforcement learning, and specialized model development.
• Prototype and scale training pipelines for large language models, experiment with model architectures, optimization techniques, and post‑training strategies.
• Contribute to infrastructure for high‑performance distributed training.
• Conduct in‑the‑wild evaluations at scale that drive millions of dollars in value.
• Partner with applied AI engineers to transition successful research ideas into robust features of the Mosaic platform.
• Communicate research outcomes to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, making sure everyone understands the "so what" of research and how to apply it.

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Depth in LLM and ML fundamentals, from optimization to large‑scale training to reinforcement learning.
• Comfort implementing and debugging large‑scale ML systems.
• Motivation for impact in critical industries including healthcare, supply chains, energy, and finance.
• Proven track record of execution.
• Excellent communication with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Enjoy extreme ownership.
• Passionate about AI’s transformative potential.

Company Mission

Percepta’s mission is to transform critical institutions with applied AI, empowering industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, and energy to benefit from frontier technology.