Principal Machine Learning Researcher (Physical AI)

Location: Full-time onsite in Hawthorne, Los Angeles, California, five days a week, with very limited exceptions.

Salary: $200,000–$500,000 annually, plus stock options.

Company

hirify.global builds AI-native manufacturing systems that integrate software, hardware, and physics to produce industrial-scale metal parts.

What you will do

• Design machine learning models for complex, multi-physics metal manufacturing processes.
• Develop hybrid models combining first-principles physics, data-driven learning, simulation, and digital twins.
• Build prediction and control models from large-scale, high-dimensional in-situ sensor data.
• Develop unsupervised and self-supervised methods connecting process signals with part quality, geometry, and performance.
• Integrate learned models into closed-loop control, autonomy, machine health monitoring, anomaly detection, and diagnostics.
• Guide the deployment of machine learning models into production software and manufacturing workflows.

Requirements

• PhD in computer science, applied mathematics, physics, robotics, controls, or a closely related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in machine learning, applied research, or a related technical field.
• Strong foundations in machine learning applied to physical systems, modeling, or control.
• Proficiency in Python and at least one systems-level programming language; C/C++ is preferred.
• Experience working with large-scale, noisy, real-world datasets.
• Ability to work full-time onsite in Hawthorne, California.

Nice to have

• 10+ years of industry experience.
• Experience with hybrid physics–ML models, digital twins, or simulation-in-the-loop learning.
• Background in autonomy, robotics, model predictive control, optimal control, or reinforcement learning for physical systems.
• Experience with image-based or sensor-based inference in industrial or scientific settings.
• Familiarity with computational geometry or geometric modeling.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative, inclusive, and data-driven working environment.
• Significant stock option package.
• Employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance, plus life insurance and 401(k) plans.
• Relocation assistance, paid vacation, sick leave, company holidays, and paid parental leave.
• Flexible work hours, catered meals, casual dress, and regular team-building events.