Sr Research Scientist

Responsibilities

• Provide technical contributions as a software engineer for R&D projects involving machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• Develop solutions for autonomy, sensing, communication, and decision support systems.
• Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams across the KRI consortium, including academic and industry partners.
• Create prototypes and practical, state-of-the-art systems for autonomous systems, robotics, and distributed sensing.
• Support Senior R&D Engineers and Scientists on government and industry contracts.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a closely related field.
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on ML/AI systems development.
• Strong proficiency in Python and modern ML/AI development workflows.
• Hands-on experience with machine learning frameworks, specifically PyTorch.
• Experience designing, implementing, and testing end-to-end ML/AI software systems.
• U.S. Citizenship with the ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in ML/AI, network science, optimization, or data-intensive systems.
• Experience supporting government, defense, or security-related R&D programs.
• Experience with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, and LLM-integrated systems.
• Background in network science, graph analytics, or Graph Neural Networks (GNNs).
• Proficiency with C++, Java, or frontend frameworks like Svelte and React.
• Experience with MLOps, experiment tracking, and containerized ML workflows.

Benefits

• Multiple retirement plan options with generous matching.
• Tuition waivers for classes and advanced degree programs.
• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance.
• Paid time off and wellness programs.

About the Company

The Kostas Research Institute (KRI) at Northeastern University conducts cutting-edge applied R&D to advance resilience against 21st-century risks. Located at the NU Innovation Campus in Burlington, MA, KRI leverages R1 university intellectual capital to develop application-specific solutions for autonomous systems, robotics, and distributed sensing.