Principal Research Engineer AEC Data - Generative AI, East Coast United States

Autodesk • Boston, MA

12d • Hybrid

About The Position

Autodesk is leading the transformation of the AEC industry by integrating AI technology into its products. The company is enhancing its applications with cloud-native capabilities, including data at scale, edge computing, AI-based solutions, and advanced 3D modeling and graphics. This innovation is occurring across flagship products like AutoCAD, Revit, and Construction Cloud, as well as Forma, a new Industry Cloud. As a Principal Research Engineer on the AEC Solutions team, you will contribute to building foundation models and generative AI tools for the AEC industry, working collaboratively to create and interpret design data to improve design and engineering workflows.

Requirements

• MSc or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5–8+ years of experience in Machine Learning, Engineering, or related fields.
• Proven technical leadership, including leading complex projects and influencing technical direction in cross-functional teams.
• Strong experience in geometric data modeling and processing, including complex 2D/3D representations, computational geometry, and data architectures.
• Familiarity with machine learning concepts and frameworks and how data is represented for training.
• Proficiency in Python and strong software development practices.
• Ability to translate research ideas into production-grade systems.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence and guide technical decisions.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AEC data formats and workflows (e.g., BIM, IFC, CAD, or civil infrastructure design models).
• Exposure to AEC, infrastructure, or reality capture workflows and related platforms such as Autodesk Civil 3D, InfraWorks, ReCap, or similar systems.
• Experience delivering production ML or data systems.
• Strong foundations in core computer science (data structures, algorithms, systems, and scalability).
• Understanding of deep learning architectures (CNNs, Transformers) and familiarity with frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Experience building scalable data or ML pipelines in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, SageMaker).
• Experience mentoring senior engineers or leading small technical teams.
• Track record of driving technical innovation and engineering best practices.
• Passionate about solving problems for AEC and infrastructure customers by applying machine learning techniques.
• Comfortable working in newly forming ambiguous areas where learning and adaptability are key skills.
• Easily collaborates with others and is comfortable with minimal direction.
• Constantly striving to learn new technologies and methodologies.
• Seeks new ways to solve hard problems.
• Unafraid to put ideas out there and fail fast.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with engineers and scientists to develop scalable data pipelines for diverse AEC data sources used in production ML systems, including BIM, CAD, and infrastructure design data.
• Work with large-scale, multi-modal datasets (text and geometric data) to design novel preprocessing, augmentation, analysis, and content understanding techniques.
• Transform unstructured AEC and infrastructure data into representations suitable for machine learning.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with ML Research Scientists and Engineers to align data formats with downstream training and fine-tuning of LLMs.
• Apply deduplication, normalization, and validation techniques to ensure high-quality data in production environments.
• Architect and optimize pipelines for scalability, reproducibility, and cloud deployment.
• Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance on complex data challenges.
• Drive technical decision-making and influence best practices across the team.
• Perform requirements analysis with senior stakeholders, ensuring technical solutions meet project goals and long-term research objectives.
• Communicate findings and technical insights through quantitative analysis, visualizations, and documentation.
• Contribute to agile workflows, ensuring flexibility and responsiveness to evolving project needs.
• Participate in technical planning and roadmap development.

Benefits

• Autodesk is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.
• We also consider for employment all qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal