Senior Applied Scientist

Usermind; Reston (VA); Hybrid; USD 193,000 - 253,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellness reimbursement

Experience bonus

QGroup Communities

Job summary

Qualtrics in Virginia (Reston) is seeking a Senior Applied Scientist to advance ML/AI R&D and personalize the customer experience. You will partner with application teams to deliver scalable algorithms, with a focus on model selection, training, fine‑tuning, explainability, and evaluation, applying deep learning and NLP techniques.

You'll work in a hybrid environment with a global team, contributing to responsible AI practices, and leveraging frameworks like TensorFlow or PyTorch, SageMaker and

Qualifications

• Strong foundation in ML/NLP, with applied research experience.
• Experience delivering AI solutions with explainability and evaluation.
• Proficiency in Python and modern DL frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Research, implement, evaluate, and optimize cutting‑edge ML models.
• Collaborate with engineers and product teams to deploy AI features.
• Lead design reviews and mentor junior scientists.

Skills

AI principles

NLP

Reinforcement learning

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Model evaluation

Communication

Education

Bachelor's or PhD in CS or related

PhD in CS or related fields

Tools

SageMaker

MLFlow

TensorFlow

PyTorch

MXNet

Job description

Job Description At Qualtrics, we create software the world's best brands use to deliver exceptional frontline experiences, build high-performing teams, and design products people love. But we are more than a platform---we are the creators and stewards of the Experience Management category serving over 18K clients globally. Building a category takes grit, determination, and a disdain for convention---but most of all it requires close-knit, high-functioning teams with an unwavering dedication to serving our customers.

When you join one of our teams, you'll be part of a nimble group that's empowered to set aggressive goals and move fast to achieve them. Strategic risks are encouraged and complex problems are solved together, by passing the mic and iterating until the best solution comes to light. You won't have to look to find growth opportunities---ready or not, they'll find you. From retail to government to healthcare, we're on a mission to bring humanity, connection, and empathy back to business. Join over 5,000 people across the globe who think that's work worth doing.

Senior Applied Scientist

Why We Have This Role

We are looking for a talented and innovative Senior Applied Scientist to bring our Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence R&D to the next level. Our goal is to personalize the Qualtrics experience using ML/AI features showcasing Qualtrics data as a core value proposition and competitive advantage. Applied scientists partner with application teams to deliver algorithms and models that drive efficiency, innovation, and growth. They identify business needs and define strategies where Qualtrics can most benefit from AI technologies and they conduct modeling with deep expertise and rigor, including model selection, training, fine-tuning, customization, explainability, and evaluation.

How You'll Find Success

• Leverage your deep knowledge of AI principles, including machine learning, natural language processing, and reinforcement learning.
• Use your understanding of both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques, and their applications in building intelligent systems.
• Develop and optimize algorithms for building scalable and efficient AI applications.
• Tackle challenging problems in creative ways, leveraging generative models to address real-world use cases and drive innovation.
• Use effective communication skills to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and gather requirements for AI application development.
• Design and execute evaluation strategies for agentic systems, including rubric-based success criteria, multi-turn conversation simulation, and LLM-as-a-judge frameworks.
• Show strong programming skills in languages like Python, along with proficiency in deep learning frameworks such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, or similar.

How You'll Grow

• Passion for leveraging cutting-edge AI technology to create innovative applications that have a meaningful impact on businesses, industries, and society.
• Commitment to developing AI applications that adhere to ethical standards and promote positive societal impact while minimizing potential risks.
• Drive to push the boundaries of what's possible with AI, and to contribute to the advancement of the field through research, experimentation, and collaboration.
• Willingness to stay updated with the latest advancements in AI research and technology, and to continuously learn and adapt to new methodologies and best practices.
• Agility to pivot and iterate on AI applications based on feedback, emerging trends, and changing business requirements.

Things You'll Do

• Work as part of a multidisciplinary team to research, implement, evaluate, optimize, productize and maintain cutting‑edge machine learning models to meet the demands of our rapidly growing business.
• Stay on top of the latest developments in machine learning and related research, and present research findings with the broader community.
• Work closely with, and incorporate feedback from other specialists, engineers, and product managers.
• Lead and engage in design reviews, modeling discussions, requirement definitions and other technical activities in diverse capacity.
• Mentor and grow junior scientists, drive best practices for experimentation, reproducibility, monitoring and lifecycle management, and ensure models are reliable, scalable and impactful in production.
• Champion Evaluation‑Driven Development (EDD) by embedding automated testing, risk‑based assessments, and production monitoring into the full agentic lifecycle.

What We're Looking For On Your Resume

• Bachelors and Ph.D in Computer Science or related fields.
• 2 years of postgraduate industrial research experience in machine learning, NLP, information retrieval, deep learning or a related field.
• Deep learning implementation expertise (MxNet, TensorFlow, PyTorch etc)
• Excellent communication, writing and presentation skills.
• Excellent command of at least one modern programming language (preferably Python)
• Excellent problem solving ability.
• Deep understanding of machine learning model life cycle management.
• Depth in one or more of the following: Natural Language processing, information retrieval, speech processing, deep learning, reinforcement learning, etc.
• Knowledge of or experience in building production quality and large scale deployment of applications related to machine learning.
• Comfortable working in a fast paced, highly collaborative, dynamic work environment.
• Experience in machine learning systems (e.g. SageMaker, MLFlow), and deep learning frameworks (e.g. TensorFlow, PyTorch, MXNet etc).
• Preference for a publication record in top‑tier ML and NLP conferences (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, SIGIR, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, etc.).
• Proven track record in evaluating complex, multi‑turn agentic systems. Deep experience with observability tools, evaluating tool‑use reliability, and implementing systematic benchmarking in CI/CD pipelines.

What You Should Know About This Team

• The Core AI organization provides AI/ML research and development services for all product lines.
• We are a global team spanning across the US, Canada and Europe.
• We stay on top of the latest AI technologies and apply the state of the art to customer business problems.
• We develop agentic applications, spanning both conversational and non-conversational interfaces, to empower our diverse global clientele.
• We architect robust builder platforms that enable customers to seamlessly design and deploy their own custom agents.

Our Team's Favorite Perks And Benefits

• Wellness Reimbursement for $300 per quarter for wellness activities including gym memberships, spa massages, workout equipment, meditation apps, and much more.
• $1800 Experience bonus to be used for an "Experience" of your choosing
• Amazing QGroup Communities; MOSAIQ, Green Team, Qualtrics Pride, Q&Able, Qualtrics Salute, and Women's Leadership Development, which exist as places for support, allyship, and advocacy.

The Qualtrics Hybrid Work Model

Our hybrid work model is elegantly simple: we all gather in the office three days a week; Mondays and Thursdays, plus one day selected by your organizational leader. These purposeful in‑person days in thoughtfully designed offices help us do our best work and harness the power of collaboration and innovation. For the rest of the week, work where you want, owning the integration of work and life.

Qualtrics is an equal opportunity employer meaning that all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected characteristic. Applicants in the United States of America have rights under Federal Employment Laws: Family & Medical Leave Act, Equal Opportunity Employment, Employee Polygraph Protection Act. Qualtrics is committed to the inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Qualtrics will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please let your Qualtrics contact/recruiter know. For full‑time positions, this pay range is for base per year; however, base pay offered within this range may vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, education, skills, and experience. A sign‑on bonus and restricted stock units may be included in an employment offer. Full‑time employees are eligible for medical, dental, vision, life and disability, 401(k) with match, paid time off, a wellness reimbursement, mental health benefits, and an experience bonus. For a detailed look at our benefits, visit Qualtrics US Benefits.

Virginia Base Annual Pay Transparency Range

$192,500---$252,500 USD