Research Engineer
At a glance
Mid-level AI Research role at Factory. San Francisco · full-time · no salary stated · we estimate $200,000–$266,875.
Factory has not published a salary for this role. The figure below is our estimate, not theirs.
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build and ship AI agent systems, including retrieval, code-generation evaluation, agent interfaces and backend architecture
- Bring new AI research into practical solutions by working with product and engineering teams
- Prototype AI features, then refine them using feedback from developers and enterprise users
- Find and fix stability and scaling issues so the platform can handle large operational workloads
What you bring
- At least two years of hands-on AI or ML engineering work after earning a bachelor's or master's in a related technical field
- You can work confidently with LLMs and have applied AI or ML to difficult problems without clear structure
Who this fits
This mid-level role suits someone who can take ambiguous research work from an initial idea through deployment. You'll work in the San Francisco office five days a week.
From the employer
About Factory
Our mission is to create a world where software builds and improves itself.
We build the platform for self-improving software development, helping the world's largest enterprise engineering teams turn their organizations into autonomous software factories. Customers including Nvidia, Blackstone, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Palo Alto Networks, Adobe, and T-Mobile run Factory to ship code, review PRs, run tests, and deploy continuously - getting smarter with every cycle.
In 2026, we raised $200M at a $5B valuation, bringing our total funding to over $400M. We are backed by world-class investors and operators including Khosla Ventures, Sequoia, Blackstone, Ali Ghodsi (CEO of Databricks), and Frank Slootman (Former CEO of Snowflake).
About the Role
Factory is seeking innovative Research Engineers to design and integrate advanced AI and ML capabilities that revolutionize productivity and accelerate innovation within software organizations.
What you will do and achieve
Design, develop, and deploy AI-driven agentic systems that enhance Factory’s core AI capabilities, focusing on retrieval systems, code generation evaluation, agentic user experience development, and agent backend architecture.
Collaborate with product and engineering teams to incorporate emerging AI research findings into practical, customer-centric solutions.
Engage in iterative development processes, rapidly prototyping and refining AI functionalities based on real-world feedback to meet the evolving needs of developers and enterprises
Take the initiative in identifying and addressing product stability and scalability challenges, ensuring our platform reliably support large-scale operational demands
Qualifications
2+ years of hands-on experience in AI/ML engineering roles post-acquisition of a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, AI, or a related technical field.
Demonstrated proficiency with LLMs and a track record of applying AI/ML techniques to solve complex, unstructured problems, ideally within the domain of software engineering or related areas.
Self-motivated and autonomous, with a proven ability to navigate ambiguous research projects from conception to impactful deployment.
Strong communication skills that enable you to articulate technical concepts and strategies clearly at all levels, coupled with a strategic mindset oriented towards innovation.
Experience with data-intensive applications and familiarity with the software development lifecycle are highly desirable, though not mandatory.
This is an in-office position (5 days/week) in San Francisco (walking distance to Caltrain)