Research Engineer (General)
At a glance
Mid-level AI Research role at HUD. San Francisco · full-time · $100,000–$230,000 base.
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Build systems that create, run, assess and improve environments used to train AI agents
- Design experiments to examine model behavior, agent failures and problems with data quality
- Create tools that help researchers, engineers and vendors produce better tasks, trajectories and feedback
- Manage the data workflow from task design and environment setup through collection, evaluation and validation
- Track task and environment usefulness with metrics, and work with vendors to improve data quality and throughput
What you bring
- You can work with Python, Docker and Linux environments
- You have worked on benchmarks and evaluations, judging task realism, rubric reliability and training value
- You can build tools, pipelines, experiments or infrastructure with limited direction
- You bring close attention to detail when reviewing data, model behavior and task design
Who this fits
This general application suits you if you are open to finding a research focus across QC Automation, Benchmarks or Synthetic Data. The role is full-time, with San Francisco or Singapore office options and remote work available with substantial overlap with either city’s hours. Relocation and visa support is available for strong full-time candidates moving to the US or Singapore. The process includes two technical interviews and a two-to-three-day work trial.
From the employer
About HUD
HUD's mission is to build reliable, fair and open infrastructure for AI data. We want data to be valuable for the people who create it and trustworthy for the labs that train on it. Our team is a quickly growing group of researchers, engineers and operators building the economy that shapes what AI will become. Backed by $16M from top VCs and YC (W25), our marketplace and platform are used by startups, Fortune 500 companies and frontier labs.
About the role
This is a general application for candidates who are unsure which research focus - QC Automation, Benchmarks, or Synthetic Data - they would be a fit for. We would love to meet you and figure it out together. However, if you already have a focus in mind, please apply to only that application.
We're looking for Research Engineers to build the technical foundation for training and evaluating frontier AI agents. You’ll build the systems for creating new environments, improve data quality, and translate real-world workflows into tasks and benchmarks.
Responsibilities
Build systems for creating, running, evaluating, and improving agent training environments
Design experiments to understand model behavior, agent failure modes, and data quality issues
Develop tools that help researchers, engineers, and data vendors create higher-quality tasks, trajectories, and feedback loops
Work across the full lifecycle of agent training data - task design, environment setup, trajectory collection, evaluation, and validation
Partner with external vendors to identify bottlenecks and improve the quality and throughput of HUD’s data engine
Build metrics and analyses that help us understand whether our tasks, environments, and evals are actually useful for training frontier agents
Experience
You may be a good fit if you have:
Proficiency in Python, Docker, and Linux environments
Experience working on benchmarks and evals - you can reason about what makes a task realistic, a rubric reliable, an environment usable, and a trajectory useful for RL training
Strong attention to detail and the ability to spot subtle inconsistencies in data, model behavior, or task design
Experience building tools, pipelines, experiments, or infrastructure without a fully prescribed roadmap
Early-stage startup experience with ability to work independently in fast-paced environments
Strong candidates may also have:
Experience building internal tools, research infrastructure, or data pipelines
Experience designing metrics and validation workflows
A background in competitive programming, Olympiad medaling, research, or unusually strong independent project experience
Thrive in unstructured problem spaces
Strong communication skills for remote collaboration across time zones
We prioritize technical aptitude and learning potential over years of experience. Motivated candidates are encouraged to apply even if they don't meet all criteria.
Team & company details
Team Size: ~25 people currently, mostly full-time in-person, but some remote.
Our team: Our team includes 4 International Olympiad medalists (IOI, ILO, IPhO), the former #1 ranked Catan player in the world, serial AI startup founders, and researchers with publications at ICLR, NeurIPS, etc.
Company stage: We have 8 figures in funding and are scaling profitably and quickly to meet very strong demand.
Logistics
Employment: Full-time.
Location: We have offices in San Francisco or Singapore but are open to remote candidates who can work hours that 70-80% overlap with either San Francisco or Singapore time zones.
Visa Sponsorship: We provide support for relocation and visas for strong full-time candidates to the US or Singapore.
Timeline: Applications are rolling. The process is 2 technical interviews and a 2-3 day work trial.
What we offer
Competitive compensation
100% covered top-of-the-line medical, dental, and vision (US and Singapore employees)
Lunch and dinner for in-office employees
Company-wide holiday break (Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day) on top of PTO and paid holidays
Other perks including an Equinox membership, 401k, and commuter benefits (US employees) and a health/wellness stipend (Singapore employees)
Unlimited* access to tokens for ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, etc. *By unlimited, we mean no one on our token usage leaderboard has ever hit a limit. So we have no idea what the limit is.
Two top-floor offices in San Francisco’s Union Square and Singapore’s Raffles Place
Annual travel budget to visit either office
Compensation
Actual offers are adjusted for experience and location, but our base salary bands are
San Francisco (and other major US cities): $135,000 - $230,000
Singapore: $100,000 - $175,000
Rest of world: $100,000 - $175,000
Due to high volume, we may not actively respond to every application, but feel free to contact us at recruiting@hud.so or elsewhere if we missed your application!