Principal AI Research Engineer (Aerospace)

TL;DR

Principal AI Research Engineer (AI/ML): Developing cutting-edge AI solutions for sustainable air mobility with an accent on novel ML/DL algorithms and their production integration. Focus on designing Transformer-based architectures, multi-modal foundation models, and bridging academic research with production-ready systems.

Location: San Jose, California, United States. Unable to provide work visa sponsorship.

Salary: $270,000 - $340,000

Company

Aerospace company building all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to advance sustainable air mobility.

What you will do

• Design and implement novel machine learning and deep learning algorithms.
• Iterate on full AI model lifecycles from data collection and architecture to deployment.
• Prototype and validate complex solutions based on the latest academic literature.
• Conduct experiments to benchmark new techniques and evaluate model behavior.
• Develop scalable frameworks and tools to support reproducible research and development.
• Transition research prototypes into production-ready systems and communicate findings to leadership.

Requirements

• M.S. or PhD in Computer Science or Computer Engineering with a strong emphasis on AI and ML.
• Strong proficiency with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Deep understanding of Transformers, attention mechanisms, multi-modal foundation models, and diffusion policies.
• Experience with model distillation, fine-tuning, and mixture of experts.
• Strong ability to debug AI models and determine requirements for data, training, and evaluation.
• Must be authorized to work in the US without sponsorship.

Nice to have

• Experience with Reinforcement Learning, self-supervised training, or imitation learning.
• Experience developing VLA (Vision Language Action) models for robotic manipulation and mobility.
• Track record of publications at top-tier AI conferences.
• Experience developing AI models for production environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Pay-for-performance culture that rewards contributions to the Company's business strategy.
• Dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment.
• Commitment to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace as an Equal Opportunity employer.