Research Engineer/Research Scientist, RL/Reasoning
At a glance
Mid-level AI Research role at OpenAI. San Francisco · full-time · $295,000–$445,000 base.
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Develop reinforcement learning methods for training aligned, general-purpose agents and the systems behind models
- Run controlled experiments, iterate quickly, and use the results to advance AI alignment and capabilities
- Debug and improve a large machine learning codebase as part of research work
What you bring
- A background in reinforcement learning research
- Strong coding ability and the capacity to work quickly through experiments
- Deep knowledge of machine learning and its applications
Who this fits
This role suits someone who takes ownership of research ideas, values careful experiments, and is comfortable working in a technically complex setting. The job is based in San Francisco, with three office days each week; relocation assistance is available.
From the employer
About the Team
The RL and Reasoning team drives the core reasoning paradigm and has created groundbreaking innovations such as o1 and o3. They focus on pushing the boundaries of reinforcement learning research, building next-generation generative models, and deploying them at scale.
About the Role
As a Research Engineer/Research Scientist at OpenAI, you will advance the frontier of AI alignment and capabilities through cutting-edge RL methods. Your work will sit at the heart of training intelligent, aligned, and general-purpose agents, including the systems that power various models.
We’re looking for people who have a background in reinforcement learning research, are able to iterate quickly, and are proficient at coding.
This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model of 3 days in the office per week and offer relocation assistance to new employees.
You might thrive in this role if:
You love being on the cutting edge of RL and language model research.
You’re a self-starter who takes initiative and ownership of ideas, driving them to completion.
You value principled approaches, simple experiments in tightly-controlled settings, and reaching trustworthy conclusions which stand the test of time.
You thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, and technically complex environment where rapid iteration is key.
You’re comfortable diving into a large ML codebase to debug and improve it.
You have a deep understanding of machine learning and machine learning applications.
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity.
We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.
For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.
Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.
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