Research Scientist 4 - Machine Learning and Inference Research, LLM Post-Training

Netflix•Los Angeles, CA

6d•$300,000 - $537,000

About The Position

At Netflix, the Machine Learning and Inference Research team is dedicated to building up the company's technical capabilities by tackling fundamental research questions tied to Netflix's most important challenges. This team partners closely with other departments to translate research into impact at scale. As a member of this team, you will leverage your technical expertise to shape roadmaps, collaborate across functions, and bring new ideas from exploration to impact. You will also engage actively with the broader research community by publishing at top venues, presenting at conferences, mentoring interns, and fostering academic collaborations. We are seeking an early-career researcher who can grow to define and execute a strong research agenda with both internal and external visibility, disseminate knowledge effectively and inspire others, collaborate with colleagues to deliver tangible impact, and help foster an open environment of innovation, intellectual rigor, and curiosity.

Requirements

Ph.D. in Computer Science or a related field with a specialization in post-training LLMs for downstream tasks, especially using RL (e.g., RLVR, RLHF, offline or online, policy- or value-based), and possibly also including reasoning, alignment, distillation/compression, tool use, memory, calibration, or related.
A track record of top-tier publications demonstrating deep expertise in the specialization.
Passion for collaboration and for building strong relationships to tackle big, cross-functional problems.
Strong technical communication skills, with the ability to adapt to different audiences.
Self-motivated with an ability to thrive and to lead with minimal oversight and process.
Curiosity and judgment in identifying and framing ambiguous research and business problems, and connecting the two.
Eagerness to elevate the broader organization through sharing knowledge and guiding the adoption of new methods.

Responsibilities

Define and execute a strong research agenda with both internal and external visibility.
Disseminate knowledge effectively and inspire others.
Collaborate with colleagues to deliver tangible impact.
Foster an open environment of innovation, intellectual rigor, and curiosity.
Publish at top venues.
Present at conferences.
Mentor interns.
Foster academic collaborations.