{"id":20601,"url":"https://alion.io/job/webai-staff-rd-ai-engineer","title":"Staff R&D AI Engineer","company":{"id":13790,"name":"webAI","domain":"webai.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/webai","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":19,"ghost_share":0.421,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":50,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Austin, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":163000,"max_usd":333000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":823},"experience_years_min":7,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Computer Vision","optional":false},{"name":"Edge AI","optional":false},{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":false},{"name":"PPO","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Reinforcement Learning","optional":false},{"name":"RLHF","optional":false},{"name":"TensorFlow","optional":false},{"name":"Vision-Language-Action","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":true},{"name":"Azure","optional":true},{"name":"DeepSpeed","optional":true},{"name":"Embodied AI","optional":true},{"name":"GCP","optional":true},{"name":"Imitation Learning","optional":true},{"name":"Knowledge Distillation","optional":true},{"name":"Model Distillation","optional":true},{"name":"Quantization","optional":true},{"name":"Sim-to-Real","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2025-07-25T14:55:21Z","employer_posted_date":"2025-07-25","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T11:04:47Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":448,"trust":{"level":"ghost","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale","company_stale"],"days_open":448},"description":"About Us:\nWe are establishing the first distributed Al infrastructure dedicated to personalized Al. The evolving needs of a data-driven society are demanding scalability and flexibility. We believe that the future of Al is distributed and enables real-time data processing at the edge, closer to where data is generated. We are building a future where a company's data and IP remains private and it's possible to bring large models directly to consumer hardware without removing information from the model.\nRole Overview:\nAs a Staff R&D AI Engineer, you will lead the development of cutting-edge AI systems that bridge computer vision, natural language understanding, and action learning. You'll architect and implement Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models, advance reinforcement learning applications, and push the boundaries of multimodal AI integration. This role combines deep expertise in both computer vision and large language models with hands-on experience in reinforcement learning to create intelligent systems that can understand, reason about, and interact with complex environments. You'll drive research initiatives, mentor technical teams, and translate breakthrough AI research into practical applications across diverse domains.\nKey Responsibilities:\nDesign and develop Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models that integrate visual perception, natural language understanding, and action prediction\n\nArchitect and implement reinforcement learning systems for sequential decision-making, including policy learning and skill acquisition\n\nBuild and optimize computer vision pipelines for perception tasks, including object detection, segmentation, tracking, and scene understanding\n\nDevelop and fine-tune large language models for instruction following, reasoning, and task planning applications\n\nImplement RLHF (Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback) systems to improve model alignment and safety\n\nCreate multimodal training pipelines that leverage synthetic and real-world data for robust model performance\n\nResearch and prototype novel AI architectures that combine vision, language, and action learning\n\nCollaborate with engineering teams to integrate AI models into applications and validate performance across domains\n\nOptimize model inference performance for real-time applications across edge and cloud deployments\n\nLead technical initiatives, mentor junior AI engineers, and establish best practices for AI model development\n\nStay current with latest research in VLA models, multimodal AI, and robotics to drive innovation roadmap\n\nPresent findings at conferences and publish research to advance the field\n\nQualifications & Skills:\n7+ years of experience in AI/ML engineering with 4+ years focusing on deep learning and neural network development\n\nStrong understanding of reinforcement learning algorithms and their applications (PPO, SAC, TD3, etc.)\n\nStrong expertise in both computer vision and natural language processing with hands-on model development experience\n\nProficiency in PyTorch and/or TensorFlow with experience training and deploying large-scale models\n\nExperience with transformer architectures, attention mechanisms, and large language model fine-tuning\n\nHands-on experience with computer vision tasks including object detection, semantic segmentation, and visual tracking\n\nStrong programming skills in Python with experience in distributed training and model optimization\n\nUnderstanding of sequential decision-making and control systems fundamentals\n\nExperience with MLOps practices including model versioning, monitoring, and deployment pipelines\n\nProven ability to work independently on complex research problems and deliver practical solutions\n\nStrong communication skills and experience collaborating with cross-functional engineering teams\n\nPreferred Qualifications:\nPhD in Computer Science, Robotics, AI/ML, or related field with focus on multimodal learning or robotics\n\nDirect experience developing or working with Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models or similar multimodal architectures\n\nExperience with RLHF implementation and human feedback integration for model alignment\n\nBackground in imitation learning, inverse reinforcement learning, or learning from demonstrations\n\nExperience with real-world system deployment and sim-to-real transfer techniques\n\nKnowledge of 3D computer vision, spatial reasoning, or multi-modal perception systems\n\nExperience with distributed training frameworks (DeepSpeed, FairScale, Horovod) and large-scale model training\n\nFamiliarity with edge AI deployment and model optimization techniques (quantization, pruning, distillation)\n\nExperience with embodied AI research or projects involving agent-environment interaction\n\nPublished research in top-tier AI/ML conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CoRL, etc.)\n\nOpen-source contributions to major AI/ML frameworks or robotics projects\n\nStartup experience with ability to rapidly prototype and iterate on AI solutions\n\nExperience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and containerization technologies\n\nBackground in safety-critical AI systems or AI alignment research\n\nWe at webAI are committed to living out the core values we have put in place as the foundation on which we operate as a team. We seek individuals who exemplify the following:\nTruth - Emphasizing transparency and honesty in every interaction and decision.\n\nOwnership - Taking full responsibility for one’s actions and decisions, demonstrating commitment to the success of our clients.\n\nTenacity - Persisting in the face of challenges and setbacks, continually striving for excellence and improvement.\n\nHumility - Maintaining a respectful and learning-oriented mindset, acknowledging the strengths and contributions of others.\n\nBenefits:\nWe strive to provide competitive benefits to all employees. The benefits listed in this posting generally apply to U.S.-based employees. For employees hired outside the United States, benefits may vary based on local law, country-specific requirements, and the employment platform or entity through which the employee is hired.\nCompetitive salary\n\nComprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits package\n\n401(k) match\n\nEquity options\n\n$200/month Health & Wellness stipend\n\nContinuing Education support\n\n$500/year Function Health subscription\n\nFree parking for in-office employees\n\nFlexible Time Off (FTO)\n\nParental leave for eligible employees\n\nSupplemental life insurance\n\nwebAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We adhere to these principles in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, benefits, social and recreational programs, and discipline. In addition, it is the policy of webAI to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particular employee works.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7305,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":7,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Flexible time off","Life insurance","Parental leave"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Machine Learning","Edge AI","AI Compute & Inference","AI Development Tools"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2025-07-25T14:55:21Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 12","filings_12m":12,"filings_prev_12m":8,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":161250,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":11}],"liveness":{"score":8,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.3,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":448,"expected_fill_days":50,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","ghost","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/webai-staff-rd-ai-engineer","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/webai-staff-rd-ai-engineer.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T12:18:25Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":16309,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-18T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":13790},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=13790"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fwebai-staff-rd-ai-engineer"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fwebai-staff-rd-ai-engineer"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fwebai-staff-rd-ai-engineer"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/webai-staff-rd-ai-engineer\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fwebai-staff-rd-ai-engineer"}]}