Applied Research Scientist

Meta•Seattle, WA

1d•$154,003 - $217,000

About The Position

The Applied Research Scientist works within the Agent Data and Optimization team in Meta’s Applied AI organization. The team develops training data, reinforcement learning environments, evaluations, and feedback loops to improve Meta’s models and products, including the Muse family of models, Muse Code, and the Muse assistant. The scientist independently leads ambitious applied research from question to measured result. This includes identifying capability gaps, formulating hypotheses, developing methods and benchmarks, building experimental and reinforcement learning environments, and analyzing agent behavior to distinguish genuine progress from errors or shortcuts. The work may focus on model learning, evaluation methods, research environments, or data and experimental infrastructure, and combines technical judgment with implementing and testing ideas.

Requirements

A PhD in Computer Science, AI, a relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
At least 3 years of experience leading major research initiatives or influencing technical strategy across teams.
Demonstrated ability to build reliable technical systems and evaluate their results.
A strong track record of first-author publication on AI-related topics and experience presenting the work.
A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

Identify capability gaps and formulate research questions that advance AI agents’ reasoning and problem-solving abilities.
Develop research methods, benchmarks, and experimental environments with reliable, reproducible measurements.
Create and curate high-quality data, and build pipelines that support model training and evaluation.
Analyze agent behavior and design feedback that rewards useful progress and tests generalization to new problems.
Lead research from hypothesis through implementation and measured results, collaborating with Meta’s model development and research teams.