Research Engineer III (ML)

Gladstone Companies • San Francisco, CA

6d • $88,000 - $120,000 • Onsite

About The Position

We are seeking a ML Research Engineer to join a team of computer scientists applying AI/ML in diverse biomedical research projects. This involves working closely with biologists, imaging scientists, and engineers to accelerate the lab's computational efforts, developing, adapting, and translating cutting-edge machine learning methods into tools that meaningfully speed up discovery in neurodegeneration and other disease areas. This is a highly collaborative position for someone who wants their ML work to directly shape how biological experiments are designed and run, advance neurodegenerative disease research by uncovering meaningful correlations across pathology datasets, and help lab members improve and scale cell image analysis pipelines. The role will also contribute to advancing our “thinking microscope” — an intelligent live-cell imaging platform that uses closed-loop machine learning to autonomously guide experiments and accelerate scientific discovery.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, physics or related field.
• 4+ years of related experience for individuals with a BS/BA or 2+ years of related experience for individuals with a MS degree
• Hands-on experience with deep learning tools (PyTorch, JAX, OpenCV, Hugging Face), MLOps frameworks (Docker, containerization, Computer Systems) and distributed platforms (Slurm, Kubernetes) and software engineering practices
• Practical experience applying machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, transformer architectures, and reinforcement learning.
• Genuine curiosity for biological discovery and a strong motivation to apply AI to solve complex biological problems, and a willingness and capacity to seek out new emerging solutions from across computer science.
• Proven ability to explain technical ML concepts to non-technical stakeholders, with a collaborative, team-first mindset.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience with biological or biomedical image analysis, including microscopy data, cell segmentation, or object tracking
• Experience applying reinforcement learning to real-world control problems, particularly closed-loop or instrument-in-the-loop systems
• Hands-on experience with distributed training, fine-tuning, or deploying large-scale vision or multimodal foundational models

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and deploy computer vision approaches and reinforcement learning pipelines for high-content cellular imaging data, including adaptive acquisition strategies for automated microscopy.
• Train, fine-tune, and benchmark multimodal models for pathology, cell segmentation across large longitudinal imaging, sequencing datasets, and evaluate performance against biologically meaningful metrics.
• Partner with lab members to streamline AI/ML workflows, improve data processing efficiency, and resolve complex computational bottlenecks in ongoing experiments.
• Partner with internal and external collaborators, contribute to manuscripts and presentations, and help lead grant writing efforts by developing the computational aims, preliminary data, and methods narratives that drive successful proposals.
• Translate complex computational concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-technical team members and interdisciplinary collaborators.

Benefits

• competitive salaries
• comprehensive benefits
• generous medical, dental, vision, retirement plan, paid vacation, commuter benefits, access to free shuttle transportation.

What This Job Offers

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