Senior AI-Native Software Engineering Researcher

The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Inc.; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Tuition benefits

Paid time off

Life and disability insurance

Transit pass

Family concierge

Fitness center access

Job summary

Carnegie Mellon University seeks an AI-native Software Engineering Researcher to advance AI-driven software engineering research across government and industry contexts. You will apply state-of-the-art AI techniques to complex software challenges and disseminate findings to the broader community.

You will collaborate with leading researchers and sponsors, contribute to strategy, and help embed AI-native practices within software engineering workflows for scalable, quality-driven delivery.

Qualifications

• PhD required with at least five years of relevant experience.
• Willing to obtain a Department of War security clearance.
• Willing to travel up to 25% to locations outside home location.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research applying AI to industry and government scale software engineering problems.
• Publish results in top-tier peer-reviewed venues and disseminate to teams.
• Collaborate with world-class engineers, researchers, and sponsors.
• Help shape AI-native software engineering strategy and best practices.

Skills

Software engineering fundamentals

Adapt to changing tech

Research methodology

Technical writing

Collaboration

Grant writing

Mentoring

Publications in top venues

Education

PhD

Job description

The future of software engineering is AI-native. Our team works to shape that future through pioneering research, practical engineering methods, and close collaboration with government, industry, and academia. At the AI-native Software Engineering Directorate, we focus on how today's engineering teams can quickly exploit emerging technologies and harness AI capabilities to create and evolve software quickly without losing fundamental software qualities. To address this new world, we study and guide industry and government teams’ use of AI in software engineering, distill best practices and lessons from experiments and experience to shape AI-native software engineering pilot and transition improvements with organizations and measure their success, create novel agents and agentic workflows to support software engineering, apply AI to accelerate architecture-scale modernization, help organizations establish AI-native software engineering practices, and guide organizations in evolving their software with architecture and AI-native approaches. Our overarching goal is to create new workflows and tools that enable AI-paced delivery of software without loss of quality.

AI-native Software Engineering Researcher

As an AI-native Software Engineering Researcher, you will focus on conducting research in application of AI to industry and government scale software engineering problems, applying your research in government and industry settings, and disseminating results to engineering teams and the broader research and software engineering community. You will help shape our AI-native Software Engineering strategy through exploration of challenges such as:

• Assessing the rapidly changing capabilities of AI models and coding agents
• Establishing metrics that help organizations understand their use of AI in development and guiding them through improvements
• Identifying gaps in AI workflows that result in unnecessarily poor outcomes (e.g., excessive technical debt, bad architecture decisions, or frequent rework loops)
• Creating novel agents or agentic workflows
• Creating or adapting practices and workflows to embed software engineering discipline
• Studying the cost implications of AI and developing strategies for more efficient use of AI (e.g., context management, token management, and balancing use of AI with non-AI approaches)

You will have the opportunity to work with world class software engineers, researchers, and data scientists working on national and global scale problems.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of software engineering fundamentals
• Ability to keep up with and adapt to rapidly changing technical advances
• A track record of conducting research and applying scientific methods to solve difficult problems
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to convey complex technical ideas in a layperson’s terms
• Demonstrated track record publishing in top tier peer-reviewed venues
• Strong collaboration skills for working with colleagues and sponsors
• Proficiency in writing funding proposals or pitching ideas for new research projects
• Willingness and ability to guide and mentor junior team members

Requirements

• A PhD with at least five (5) years of relevant experience.
• You will be subject to a background investigation and you must be able to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance.
• Willing to travel up to 25% of the time to locations outside of your home location. Travel sites include SEI offices in Washington, D.C., sponsor sites, and conferences.

Desired Experience

• Experience leading research projects in novel areas
• Successful application of AI to improve research or software engineering progress
• Experience working with software engineering teams on large industry or government projects
• Experience working with leadership to plan, develop, and deliver an overall technical strategy

Benefits

• Benefits eligible employees enjoy a wide array of benefits including comprehensive medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance as well as a generous retirement savings program with employer contributions.
• Unlock your potential with tuition benefits, take well-deserved breaks with ample paid time off and observed holidays, and rest easy with life and accidental death and disability insurance.
• Additional perks include a free Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus pass, access to our Family Concierge Team to help navigate childcare needs, fitness center access, and much more!
• For a comprehensive overview of the benefits available, explore our Benefits page.

Job Details

Location Pittsburgh, PA

Job Function Software/Applications Development/Engineering

Position Type Staff - Regular Full Time/Part time Full time

Pay Basis Salary

Equal Opportunity Statement

Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran.

For technical assistance, email HR Services or call 412-268-4600.

If you are an individual with a disability and you require assistance with the job application process, please email Equal Opportunity Services or call 412-268-3930.

Prospective Employee Disclosures