Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist - Frontier Lab

Software Engineering Institute | Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Software Engineering Institute | Carnegie Mellon University in Arlington, VA and Pittsburgh, PA invites a Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist to lead applied research and prototype development for government missions. You will design, implement, and evaluate ML systems spanning agentic AI, TEVV, and multimodal learning, working with customers and stakeholders.

You will mentor junior staff, shape frontier lab directions, and deliver credible evidence-backed results while staying hands-on

Qualifications

• Education and experience aligned with frontier AI and government-facing research.
• Deep expertise in agentic systems, LLM reliability, CV evaluation, and TEVV pipelines.
• Strong engineering capability to build high-quality prototypes and evaluation infra.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead technical workstreams and coordinate multi-person effort.

Responsibilities

• Mission-context execution with users, workflows, success criteria, and outcomes.
• Technical leadership by defining tasks, milestones, and delivery quality.
• Applied research and prototyping with evidence-backed insights.
• Evaluation, assurance, and credible testing pipelines for mission scenarios.
• Customer-facing technical ownership and translation of goals to technical outcomes.
• Mentorship and talent development across project teams.
• Shaping frontier lab agenda and researching directions.
• Self-direction, time management, and blockers resolution.

Skills

Agentic AI

LLM reliability

CV evaluation

Robustness

TEVV pipelines

Multimodal learning

Edge ML

Technical leadership

Mentorship

Time management

Education

BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, or related field

MS with 8 years of relevant experience

PhD with 5 years of relevant experience

Job description

What We Do

At the SEI AI Division, we conduct research in applied artificial intelligence and the engineering challenges related to building, deploying, and sustaining AI-enabled systems for high-impact government missions.

The Frontier Lab advances AI engineering and transitions frontier AI capabilities to government stakeholders through applied research, rapid prototyping, short-cycle TEVV, and technical advisory.

Position Summary

As a Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist in the Frontier Lab, you will serve as a senior individual contributor and technical leader, shaping and executing applied research and prototype capability development for government andDoWmissions.This role spans the research-engineering spectrum: someSRMLRS hires may lean more research-heavy and others more engineering-heavy, but successful candidates collaborate effectively across both.

You willoperatewith high autonomy, represent technical work with customers and stakeholders, and help guide Frontier Lab research direction—whileremaininghands-on in development, evaluation, and delivery. Your work may span Frontier Lab focus areas such as:

• Agentic AI for mission workflows (e.g., planning, analysis, decision support) where autonomous and human-guided agents interact with tools, data systems, and operators.

• AI test, evaluation, verification, and validation (TEVV) to improve confidence in performance, robustness, uncertainty, and trustworthiness of ML-enabled systems.

• Mission-tailored language models, including techniques to improve accuracy and reliability, reduce hallucinations, and integrate structured knowledge for operational tasks.

• Mission modalities and multimodal learning, including sensor fusion and learning under noisy, sparse, or constrained data conditions (including synthetic data and weakly-/self-supervised approaches).

• AI at the tactical edge, enabling capability under constrained compute/connectivity through efficient inference, compression, rapid adaptation, and update/redeploy patterns.

Key Responsibilities / Duties

Senior MLRS staff are expected tooperatewith a high degree of autonomy and technical ownership whileremaininghands-on in development, evaluation, and delivery.

• Mission-context execution : Execute work within the operational context—understanding users, workflows, constraints, success criteria, and outcomes—so technical decisions are grounded in real mission needs.

• Technical leadership / Tech lead : Lead technical execution by defining technical tasking, sequencing work into realistic milestones,maintainingdelivery quality, and delegating appropriately across the team.

• Applied research and prototyping : Design and run studies, build convincingprototypesand reference implementations, and produce evidence-backed insights that can be matured and transitioned into operational settings.

• Evaluation, assurance, and evidence :Establishcredible evaluation strategies and test pipelines that assess performance, robustness, reliability, and trustworthiness in mission-representative scenarios.

• Customer-facing technical ownership : Serve as the primary technical interface whenappropriate; translate mission goals into measurable technical outcomes; communicate progress, decisions, and risks clearly to stakeholders.

• Mentorship and talent development : Proactively mentor junior staff and teammates, raising the bar for research rigor, engineering practice, and delivery habits across project teams.

• State-of-the-artawareness and agenda shaping :Maintainstrong awareness of frontier developments aligned to the Frontier Lab, share insights with the lab, and help shape research directions and future work selection.

• Self-direction and time management : Manage multiple priorities effectively, sustain steady execution cadence, and resolve blockers with minimal oversight.

• Community building (internal and external): Build a strong research culture through internal talks, reading groups, and workshops; and engage with external AI/ML communities (professional societies, consortiums, working groups, and conferences) to strengthen collaboration pathways and keep the lab connected to emerging practice.

Requirements

• Education / Experience

• BSin Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, or related field with10 yearsof relevant experience; OR MSwith8 yearsof relevant experience;OR PhDwith5 yearsof relevant experience.

• Deepexpertisein one or more Frontier Lab-aligned areas (agentic systems, LLM reliability/evaluation, CV evaluation, robustness/assurance, TEVV pipelines, multimodal learning, edge ML).

• Strong engineering capability– canbuild andmaintainhigh-quality prototypes, evaluation infrastructure, and repeatable experimentation workflows.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able torepresenttechnical work credibly to senior stakeholders.

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical workstreams and coordinate multi-person execution.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (KSAs)

• Technical judgment: Makes sound architectural and methodological decisions; balances ambition with mission constraints.

• Customer translation: Converts mission needs into tractable technical plans, measurable success criteria, and credible evaluation evidence.

• Scientific leadership: Maintainsrigor;identifiesflawed assumptions; improves evaluation quality and research practices.

• Mentorship & influence: Elevates team performance through hands-on guidance and strong technical standards.

• Initiative: Proactivelyidentifiesrisks/opportunities, proposes new work, and creates alignment without directive management.

• Self-direction and time management : Plans work effectively under ambiguity,maintainsexecution cadence, and escalates risks early.

Desired Experience

• Leading applied research projects resulting ineffectiveprototypes, mission-relevant evaluation outcomes, or transitioned methods.

• Publications at strong venues (e.g.,NeurIPS/ ICLR / ICML, relevant workshops, MLCON), and/or demonstrable impact through applied research artifacts (benchmarks, evaluation suites, open-source, technical reports).

• Designing and operating TEVV efforts including evaluation pipelines, robustness analysis, calibration/uncertainty work, regression suites, and scenario-based evaluation protocols.

• Building agentic capabilities integrated with tools, data systems, and human workflows (decision support, planning, analytic contexts).

• Experience with secure or operational environments and delivery constraints typical of government settings.

• Experience shaping a technical roadmap or research portfolio aligned to sponsor priorities and lab strategy.

Other Requirements

• Flexible to travel to SEI offices inPittsburgh, PAandWashington, DC / Arlington, VA, sponsor sites, conferences, and offsite meetings (~10% travel).

• You must be able and willing to work onsite at an SEI office in Pittsburgh, PA or Arlington, VA 5 days per week.

• You will be subject to a background investigation and must be eligible to obtain andmaintaina Department of War**)**security clearance.

Location

Arlington, VA, Pittsburgh, PA

Job Function

Software/Applications Development/Engineering

Position Type

Staff – Regular

Full time/Part time

Full time

Pay Basis

Salary

More Information:

• Please visit “Why Carnegie Mellon” to learn more about becoming part of an institution inspiring innovations that change the world.

• Click here to view a listing of employee benefits

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

• Statement of Assurance