Staff Gen AI Research Scientist

AI Chopping Block; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 292,000; Full time

Job summary

Anduril Industries in the United States is seeking an AI Research Scientist to join as a founding ML expert. You will design, fine-tune, and deploy next-generation generative AI, LLMs, and agentic systems powering our autonomous platforms.

This highly applied role blends research with hands-on coding, offering autonomy to steer data collection and multi-agent deployments in critical missions. This position emphasizes building production-grade models for edge devices, collaborating with

Qualifications

• Strong production-level coding skills in Python and deep learning frameworks.
• Hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, and evaluating LLMs or multimodal models.
• Strong foundation in Computer Vision, NLP, Robotics, or related field with 2+ years in generative models.
• Experience with model training, alignment, and orchestration tools (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face, DeepSpeed).
• Clearance eligibility to obtain and maintain a U.S. Top Secret clearance.
• Academic/industry background with focus on generative models and transformer architectures.

Responsibilities

• Build, pre-train, and fine-tune in-house LLMs and multimodal foundation models.
• Apply alignment techniques (SFT, RLHF, DPO) to maximize capability while reducing cost.
• Architect models to run on edge compute and onboard hardware with optimized latency.
• Design agentic architectures and multi-agent coordination frameworks.
• Collaborate with CV, perception, and motion planning teams for multimodal integration.
• Prototype with customers and scale to production-grade features.

Skills

Python

Deep Learning

LLMs

Reinforcement Learning

Education

B.S./M.S./Ph.D. in Computer Science or related field

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Hugging Face

DeepSpeed

Megatron-LM

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Job description

ABOUT THE TEAM

The Air Dominance & Strike team at Anduril develops aerial and multi-domain robotic systems. The teamis responsible fortaking products like Fury (unmanned fighter jet) and Barracuda (air-breathing cruise missile) from concept to product. The team also develops Lattice for Mission Autonomy, Anduril’s premier software platform that enables masses of Fury, Barracuda, and other first andthird partyrobots to collaborate across various missions. We work in close coordination with specialist teams like Perception, Motion Planning, Hardware, and Test Engineering to solve some of the hardest problems facing our customers. We are looking forAI research scientists,Appliedscientistsand roboticists excited about creating a powerful autonomy software stack that includes computer vision, motion planning, SLAM, controls, estimation, and secure communications.

ABOUT THE JOB

We are seeking an AI Research Scientist to serve as a founding ML expert on our team. In this role, you will design, fine-tune, and deploy the next generation of generative AI, LLMs, and agentic systems that power our air-dominance platforms and collaborative autonomous behaviors.

This isa highly appliedresearch role (splitroughly60%applied research/experimentation and40% hands-on coding) focused on makingstate-of-the-artLLMmodels smaller, faster, and smarter. You will work on both offboard systems (for complex mission planning, modeling, and simulation) and onboard systems—optimizingmodels to run directly on power- and compute-constrained edge hardware. As an early member of this initiative, you will have significant autonomy to set the technical direction, design our data collection strategy across test sites and simulations, and directly influence how multi-agent autonomy is deployed in critical missions.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Build & Fine-Tune Core Models: Develop, pre-train, and fine-tune in-house LLMs and multimodal foundation models. Apply SOTA post-training alignment techniques (SFT, RLHF, DPO) to maximize capability while minimizing cost and footprint.

Deploy at the Edge: Architect and optimize models to run directly on tactical edge compute and power-constrained hardware onboard physical assets. Optimize model latency, memory usage, and execution speed through quantization, distillation, and pruning.

Develop Agentic Workflows: Design and implement robust agentic architectures, multi-agent coordination frameworks, and planning loops for complex, multi-domain military missions.

Drive Multimodal Sensor Integration: Collaborate closely with computer vision, perception, and motion planning teams to build systems capable of reasoning over diverse modalities, including camera feeds, radar, telemetry, and text-based operational orders.

Shape Data & Evaluation Strategies: Define and execute data collection strategies across physical assets, test sites, and virtual simulations. Work with AI Infrastructure engineers to build scalable evaluation frameworks that measure model performance, reliability, and safety in high-stakes environments.

Rapid Prototyping to Production: Build early-stage prototypes alongside customers, quickly iterate on feedback, and scale those prototypes into production-grade features deployed across our family of systems.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Core Engineering Strength: Strong production-level coding skills in Python and deep learning frameworks (likePyTorchor JAX).

ML & LLM Expertise: Hands-on experience training, fine-tuning, and evaluating LLMs, Generative AI, or multimodal models.

Solid Foundation: A strong background in a classical technical discipline (Computer Vision, NLP, Robotics, or Speech) with 2+ years of dedicated experience focusing on generative models and modern transformer architectures.

Tooling Familiarity: Experience using modern model training, alignment, and orchestration tools (e.g., Axolotl, Hugging Face,DeepSpeed, Megatron-LM,LangChain, orLlamaIndex).

Problem-Solving & Adaptability: Ability to operate comfortably in a fast-paced environment, moving from ambiguous mission requirements to concrete code and functional prototypes.

Academic/Industry Background: Degree (B.S., M.S., or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, Physics, Mathematics, or a related technical field.

Clearance Eligibility: Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. Top Secret security clearance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Edge Deployment Experience: Proventrack recordof compiling and running deep learning models on edge accelerators (e.g., NVIDIA Jetson, custom TPUs/ASICs) under severe power and compute constraints.

Advanced Alignment Experience: Hands-on experience implementing Reinforcement Learning from Human/AI Feedback (RLHF/RLAIF) or direct preference optimization (DPO) loops.

Multimodal Experience: Experience working with multimodal architectures (VLM, video-to-text, or sensor fusion) and diffusion models.

AI-Powered Products at Scale: Experience building and shipping AI-powered products used by millions of users, with a deep understanding of the end-to-end lifecycle from research prototype to production deployment.

Applying AI to Novel Domains: Track record of successfully applying AI/ML technologies to novel problems and domains where established approaches do not yet exist, demonstratingcreativity and first-principles thinking.

Continuous Learning & Field Awareness: Proven ability to rapidly learn new technologies and stay current with the fast-evolving AI landscape—regularly engaging with the latest research, tools, and techniques through publications, conferences, and the open-source community.

US Salary Range

$220,000 — $292,000 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are included in the majority of full time offers; and are considered part of Anduril's total compensation package. Additionally, Anduril offers top-tier benefits for full-time employees, including:

Benefits

At Anduril, we invest in our people. Our comprehensive, competitive benefits package (available at little to no cost to employees) ensures you’re supported in health, recovery, and whatever comes next.

Data Privacy

To view Anduril's candidate data privacy policy, please visit https://anduril.com/applicant-privacy-notice/.

By submitting your application, you consent to Anduril Industries using a third-party service provider to conduct pre-employment risk, integrity, and due diligence screening and assessing potential risks as part of your application process. This third-party service provider provides risk-intelligence services that may include analysis of sanctions and watchlists, adverse media, public-record information, and other lawful open-source or commercial data sources. This third-party service provider does not act as a consumer reporting agency. Use of this provider helps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and protect technology, intellectual property, and organizational security.