AI/ML Research Scientist

MIT Lincoln Laboratory•Lexington, MA

11d•$100,200 - $150,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Artificial Intelligence Technology and Systems Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory has over 50 years of experience developing revolutionary technologies for critical national missions. Group 52 AI Technology & Systems Group specializes in machine learning (ML) algorithms, technologies, and systems that extract and analyze information from multimedia data—including speech, text, images, and video. In recent years, we have significantly expanded our mission to include developing impactful ML solutions for cybersecurity in collaboration with the Nation’s top cyber organizations. As a recognized leader in both basic and applied AI/ML, our group is shaping emerging AI fields and driving the Laboratory’s efforts in AI Assurance across the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. We also integrate expertise in multimedia, cyber, and AI assurance to develop cutting-edge technologies for Operations in the Information Environment (OIE). A hallmark of our work is a focus on operational relevance: we design and evaluate AI/ML systems using realistic datasets and metrics, and we partner directly with intelligence analysts and cyber operators to ensure rapid transition of our technologies into real-world, mission-critical systems. This is an opportunity to apply your skills to some of the most important technical challenges of our time—while learning from and contributing to a world-class research community.

Requirements

B.S. in electrical engineering, computer science or other relevant discipline.
Knowledge of artificial intelligence ideally with applications on multimedia, cyber security or adversarial machine learning / AI security experience.
Proficient programmer – comfortable writing modular code; familiar with at least one major ML library (PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.) and data handling libraries (NumPy, pandas, etc.).
Hands-on experience with rapid-prototyping and AI frameworks – exposure to agentic/LLM-oriented toolkits (e.g., MCP), integration with both commercial and locally-hosted AI models.
Software engineering best practices; version-control, collaborative coding – basic Git workflow (branching, pull requests, code reviews) and familiarity with issue-tracking.
Strong problem-solving mindset – can take a research concept, break it into implementable components, and iterate quickly based upon experimental results.
Detail oriented, able to multi-task, and with the ability to work autonomously given direction.
Effective written and oral communications skills in technical environments, technical notes and documentation.
Current TS/SCI clearance or willingness to obtain one.
U.S. citizenship is required.

Responsibilities

Design, program, and architect advanced ML methods.
Develop algorithms in speech, natural language processing, multimedia, cyber, and graph analytics.
Publish and present research at premier conferences.
Research on state-of-the-art algorithms in signal processing, natural language processing, graph analytics, or adversarial AI.
Applying innovative methods to challenging, real-world problems.
Working in a collaborative, team-oriented development environment.