Principal AI Researcher – Agentic Systems, AI Infrastructure

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Virginia, +1 more state.

📋 Description

• Define and enhance the long-term AI/ML research strategy and technical roadmap for Trase OS in accordance with product and platform goals.

• Lead extensive experimentation and prototyping initiatives requiring substantial compute infrastructure, transforming cutting-edge AI research into scalable, production-ready systems that demonstrate measurable impact.

• Propel original research and technical advancements in agentic systems, autonomous execution, multi-agent orchestration, post-training and fine-tuning systems, SLM/LLM-based architectures, and applied AI infrastructure.

• Architect the operational framework for models within long-term execution environments, encompassing agent workflows, tool utilization, planning, memory systems, reasoning, and human-in-the-loop controls.

• Develop evaluation methodologies and reliability frameworks for autonomous systems, which include benchmarking, regression testing, safety, controllability, and production behavior analysis.

• Influence architectural choices across orchestration, model serving, routing, inference, and infrastructure governance, focusing on latency, reliability, and cost optimization.

• Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to translate research findings into deployable systems and enterprise workflows.

• Create AI systems that function reliably in regulated and constrained settings, including secure cloud, on-premise, and air-gapped environments.

• Contribute to the wider AI research community through technical papers, publications, conference engagements, architectural proposals, and thought leadership.

• Act as a senior technical authority and mentor throughout the organization, shaping technical direction, research integrity, experimentation practices, and best practices across research, engineering, and product teams.

⛳️ Requirements

• 12–15+ years of experience in machine learning, AI systems, or applied AI research, including a background at a Principal, Distinguished, or equivalent technical level.

• Established research and publication history, featuring authored papers, significant technical contributions, or active involvement in pioneering AI research.

• Experience presenting at premier conferences or contributing to influential open-source, research, or AI infrastructure systems.

• Proven capability in conducting large-scale experiments that necessitate significant compute infrastructure, evaluation workflows, and iterative model/system analysis.

• In-depth expertise in one or more fields, including agentic systems, LLMs and generative AI, multi-agent systems, reasoning systems, reinforcement learning, orchestration infrastructure, AI systems reliability, NLP, multimodal systems, or deep learning.

• Practical experience with agent-based systems, prompt engineering, RAG, RLHF, SLMs, fine-tuning/post-training techniques, tool integration, memory systems, and human-in-the-loop orchestration.

• Demonstrated success in building, deploying, and managing enterprise-grade AI systems, including GenAI, LLM, or agent-based applications at scale.

• Robust understanding of ML system dynamics in production, including reliability, latency, cost trade-offs, observability, evaluation frameworks, regression testing, and failure modes.

• Strong systems thinking and a proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with engineering and product teams to transition research into production systems.

• Proficient programming and prototyping skills in Python and contemporary ML infrastructure stacks, with a preference for experience in Java or similar systems languages.

• Experience implementing AI/ML systems in regulated, constrained, or enterprise environments, with a demonstrated capacity to steer technical direction from research to production impact.

🏝️ Benefits

• Career advancement opportunities with the potential for rapid progression based on strong performance as the firm expands.

• Comprehensive health care coverage fully paid by the employer, including medical, dental, and vision for you and your family.

• Paid maternity and paternity leave for 14 weeks at the employee's regular pay rate.

• Unlimited paid time off (PTO), subject to management approval.

• Opportunities for professional development and ongoing learning.

• Optional 401K, FSA, and equity incentives available.

• Mental health benefits accessible through Tara Mind.