Applied AI Research Scientist

Sage Recruiting is looking for an Applied AI Research Scientist to join a rapidly growing, AI-powered SaaS company that is revolutionizing how businesses deliver personalized user experiences. Our client’s platform enables companies to leverage cutting-edge AI methodologies for search & recommendations. With a rapidly growing customer base and a growing presence in the AI landscape, they’re setting a new standard for innovation in the recommendation and search space.

As an Applied AI Research Scientist, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of how AI uses behavioral data to understand users and personalize interfaces. You’ll conduct groundbreaking research, publish papers, and bring your ideas to life in production systems that directly impact customer outcomes. If you’re a self-motivated researcher with a passion for recommendations, multi-modal AI, and driving results, this is the perfect role for you.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Conduct fundamental research (30% of your time) on state-of-the-art AI methodologies, attending conferences, and publishing papers to build credibility in the industry.
• Apply cutting-edge research to real-world datasets (70% of your time), developing models for recommendations, search, and personalization.
• Design and implement end-to-end machine learning systems, optimizing performance and scalability.
• Evaluate and improve personalization strategies through A/B testing, cross-validation, and experimentation.
• Collaborate with a high-performing technical team in agile, sprint-based development cycles.
• Solve infrastructure challenges related to real-time system updates and large-scale language models.

What We’re Looking For:

Education:

• PhD in NLP, Recommendation Systems, Information Retrieval, or related fields with 1 year of industry experience.
• OR Master’s degree with 5 years of relevant experience in recommendation and search systems

Experience:

• Hands-on experience designing, experimenting and implementing machine learning systems in a scalable production environment.
• Proven expertise in recommendation systems, search, and NLP research areas.
• Strong research background, including publications in top-tier conferences or journals.

Technical Skills:

• Proficiency in Python and differential programming frameworks (Pytorch, Tensorflow, Jax).
• Experience with the latest machine learning operation tools to manage experiments, model deployment and training clusters.
• Strong SQL and database skills for data processing.

Nice-to-Have:

• Experience with Kubernetes and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP).
• Experience with Rust, C or lower-level languages for optimization.
• Knowledge of data engineering best practices, including: real-time feature stores, and orchestration.
• Startup experience and a willingness to wear multiple hats.
• Excellent technical writing and documentation skills.

What We Offer:

• Competitive Salary: $150K–$175K Bonus (up to 15%) & Equity.
• Benefits:
• Unlimited PTO with flexible time-off policies.
• Comprehensive health benefits (medical, dental, vision).
• 401K plan.
• Equity options in a fast-growing, Series A company.

Why Join This Team?

• Be part of a company founded by AI veterans from Meta, Google, Uber, and Amazon with a mission to make state-of-the-art personalization accessible to all businesses.
• Contribute to cutting-edge AI research while implementing solutions that improve engagement, conversion, and revenue for real customers.
• Work in a collaborative, in-person team environment based in Brooklyn, NY
• Shape the future of a platform backed by top investors, including Madrona and Y-Combinator.

Sage Recruiting is an Ontario-based, Women-owned Technical and Executive recruitment consultancy that strives to make the recruitment industry a better place for candidates. We are supporters of LGBTQIA and diversity advocates. Our Founder and partner are both software developers and the entire team has learned to code. For more information, please see www.sagerecruiting.me or visit our Google Reviews page to see what people say about us!