Senior AI Research Engineer

Archer; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Onsite at San Jose HQ

Job summary

Archer in San Jose is seeking a strong AI/ML researcher to develop cutting-edge algorithms and transition projects from research to production. You will work within AI Products, a ~100-person software team embedded in aerospace engineering, delivering end-to-end AI solutions for air mobility and defense sectors.

The role requires an MS/PhD with deep ML exposure, proficiency in PyTorch/TensorFlow, and strong debugging skills.

Qualifications

• MS or PhD in CS/CE with AI/ML emphasis.
• Proficient in ML frameworks (PyTorch or TensorFlow).
• Strong debugging and requirements for AI models.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and evaluate novel ML/DL algorithms.
• Iterate on AI model development from data to deployment.
• Collaborate with researchers to prototype and validate solutions.
• Conduct experiments to benchmark techniques and evaluate model behavior.
• Develop tools to support scalable, reproducible research.
• Communicate research findings to leadership clearly.
• Stay current with AI/ML developments and innovations.
• Help transition research prototypes into production-ready systems.

Skills

ML/DL fundamentals

PyTorch/TensorFlow

Transformer models

Debug AI models

Data pipelines

Education

MS or PhD in CS/CE with AI/ML focus

Tools

Git

Job description

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Archer is a leader in the next-gen aerospace sector building an end-to-end advanced air mobility platform that delivers air taxis, unmanned aircraft systems ("UAS"), aviation-related physical artificial intelligence ("AI") solutions, and other technologies to customers worldwide across the commercial aerospace and defense sectors.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

As a strong AI and ML fundamentalist who is an expert at developing cutting-edge AI solutions to complex problems, you will develop code that eventually integrates into production, including:What You’ll Do:

• Design, implement, and evaluate novel machine learning and deep learning algorithms.
• Iterate on AI model development; starting from the data needed for training, architecture, input/output representations, evaluation, and deployment.
• Collaborate with other researcher engineers to prototype and validate complex solutions from academic literature.
• Conduct experiments to benchmark new techniques and evaluate model behavior.
• Develop tools and frameworks to support scalable and reproducible research and development.
• Communicate research findings to leadership in a concise, and convincing manner.
• Stay current with the latest developments in AI/ML and identify relevant innovations.
• Assist in transitioning research prototypes into production-ready systems.

What You Need:

• M.S or PhD degree in Computer Science, or Computer Engineering with strong emphasis on AI and ML.
• Enjoys solving less-defined and complex problems
• Familiarity with good SW practices and development, including code quality, version control, etc.
• Very strong with ML frameworks such as PyTorch, or Tensorflow
• Good understanding of Transformer architectures, attention mechanisms, multi-modal foundation models, diffusion policies, fine-tuning, model distillation, mixture of experts, and other similar topics.
• Has strong ability to debug and determine requirements for AI models in terms of data, training, and evaluation.
• Is up to date with research literature and recent ML techniques and methodologies.

About The Team:

AI Products is a roughly 100-person software org inside a company of aerospace engineers, and we expect to grow substantially over the next year. You get the resources and momentum of a real org, but the products themselves are early.

Please note that this job description is intended to provide a general overview of the position and does not include an exhaustive list of responsibilities and qualifications

At Archer we aim to attract, retain, and motivate talent that possess the skills and leadership necessary to grow our business. We drive a pay-for-performance culture and reward performance that supports the Company’s business strategy. For this position we are targeting a base pay between $160,000.00 - $190,000.00 Actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Archer is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with physical or mental disabilities, and those with sincerely held religious beliefs. Applicants who may require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should provide their name and contact information to Archer’s People Team at [e-mail] . Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case‑by‑case basis.

Information collected and processed as part of any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Archer's Candidate Privacy Policy .

Certain positions may be eligible for visa sponsorship.

Archer is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience with Reinforcement Learning, self-supervised training, and imitation learning is a plus.
• Experience developing VLA (Vision Language Action) models for robotic manipulation and mobility is a plus.
• Experience developing production AI models is a plus.
• Publications at top conferences are a plus.

Per company policy, this role requires working onsite 5-days a week at our San Jose HQ.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service‑connected disability.

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