Research Engineer, Applied AI/ML Early Stage Project

Job description

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Software Engineering

Mountain View, CA (HQ)


**About X:**


X is Alphabet’s moonshot factory with a mission of inventing and launching “moonshot” technologies that could someday make the world a radically better place.

We are a diverse group of inventors and entrepreneurs who build and launch technologies that aim to improve the lives of millions, even billions, of people.

Our goal: 10x impact on the world’s most intractable problems, not just 10% improvement.

We approach projects that have the aspiration and riskiness of research with the speed and ambition of a startup.

As an innovation engine, X focuses on repeatedly turning breakthrough-technology ideas into the foundations for large, sustainable businesses.


**About the team:**


We're a small, passionate and driven team of experienced ML researchers, software engineers and product managers on a mission to make the practice of law radically more efficient and accurate.

Our project is focusing on de-risking our technology, refining our tech prototypes, running experiments with partners and developing a product prototype and business plans.

Our culture is one of mutual care & respect, individual competence and most important of all, fun!


**About the role:**


As a Research Engineer on our team, you will be at the heart of our mission, focused on pioneering novel approaches for our LLM-based systems.

You will design and run experiments, exercising sound judgment to make quick, tangible progress in an applied research setting.

You will tackle modeling challenges through a variety of methods, from sophisticated prompt engineering and combining LLMs with other techniques like graph ML, to implementing post-training strategies such as fine-tuning and distillation.

You will be responsible for translating your breakthroughs into production-grade code and owning the end-to-end MLOps cycle to ensure your innovations are robust and scalable.


**How you will make 10X Impact:**

+ Explore, apply, and innovate state-of-the-art LLM & machine learning techniques to solve real-world problems
+ Design and implement ML workflows, such as batch inference, agentic processes, active learning, fine tuning and data labeling
+ Design and implement robust, automated, production-level software using horizontally scalable components
+ Work effectively with cross-functional teams of engineers, product managers, and domain experts
+ Provide direction and focus in areas of high ambiguity

**What you should have:**

+ Masters/PhD in Computer Science, or equivalent research experience
+ Experience using semantic embeddings in retrieval or clustering problems
+ Experience applying LLMs, particularly with techniques like RAG or knowledge graphs
+ Experience translating research concepts or novel techniques into robust, production-ready systems
+ Proficiency in MLOps, including model deployment, versioning and performance monitoring in production environments
+ Ability to innovate ways to improve model accuracy and quantify drift, overfitting and regression
+ Experience with deep learning frameworks like PyTorch, Tensorflow, JAX
+ Experience optimizing system/model performance (e.g. speed, cost, throughput)
+ Strong proficiency in Python and software engineering best practices (testing, designing architectures, version control, etc)
+ Excellent written and verbal communication skills

**It’d be great if you had these:**

+ Experience applying LLMs for large scale document processing, including tasks like annotation, entity extraction, etc.
+ Experience designing agentic workflows or multi-step reasoning systems
+ Experience building pipelines for data processing (e.g. Beam, Flume, Flink, KubeFlow, Spark)
+ Experience with advanced model optimization techniques such as quantization or distillation
+ Experience in Google Cloud Platform and Vertex AI
+ Consistent track record of delivering high quality solutions to large, complex software problems
+ Experience working in start-up like environments


The US base salary range for this full-time position is $136,000 - $185,000 + bonus + equity + benefits.

Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location.

Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.



Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, or benefits.


**An Equal Opportunity Workplace**


At X, we don't just accept difference - we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.



If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact us at

x-accommodation-request@x.team

.

Required Skill Profession

Other General