Roles at frontier labs · Research specialties
Pretraining Researcher and Engineer
21 recorded postings · Partial update · October 8, 2026
Recorded postings, not a live vacancy count. Partial update: some sources retain earlier observations; each listing has its own check date.
Pretraining teams train the base model: the data mixture, the architecture, the scaling experiments that predict a large run from small ones, and the run itself.
- How language models work 81%
- Pretraining and scaling laws 81%
- Inference and serving 62%
- Python 52%
- PyTorch 48%
- Distributed training 43%
taught here course coming not taught
The numbers
- Recorded postings at 10 labs
- 21
- Median base pay middle half $413k to $600k, 9 U.S. bands
- $413k
- No degree requirement stated 5% require a PhD outright
- 57%
- Years asked, median of the 2 that state a minimum
- 2
The recorded snapshot
Postings from 10 labs
- Anthropic 8 recorded postings
- Reflection AI 3 recorded postings
- Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) 2 recorded postings
- Thinking Machines Lab 2 recorded postings
- Cohere 1 recorded postings
- Cursor (Anysphere) 1 recorded postings
- Google DeepMind 1 recorded postings
- JetBrains (Junie, Mellum) 1 recorded postings
- and 2 more below
In the labs' own words
In the labs' own words
“Have hands-on experience training large language models, or deep expertise with JAX, TPU, PyTorch, or large-scale distributed systems”
“Deep understanding of large-scale ML, especially as it relates to language models, distributed training, and scaling.”
“Strong grounding in RL for large language models, such as modern policy optimization methods and their behavior at scale.”
Your way in
Three doors to this role
- Door 1
Finishing a degree
24% mention publications
The way in is a program: 32 recorded in the snapshot
- Door 2
A software engineer
57% have no degree requirement stated
What to add
- Door 3
A PhD
43% ask for distributed training
Engineering at scale
Asked often
The short answers
How much does a pretraining researcher and engineer at a frontier lab make?
The median U.S. base salary across 9 recorded pretraining researcher and engineer postings that publish a band is $413k; the middle half runs from $413k to $600k. Equity and bonus are not included.
Do you need a PhD to be a pretraining researcher and engineer?
57% of the 21 recorded postings do not state a degree requirement, 43% mention a PhD or master's, and 5% require a PhD outright.
What skills do pretraining researcher and engineer postings ask for?
Most often: how language models work (81%), pretraining and scaling laws (81%), inference and serving (62%), python (52%), pytorch (48%).
Which labs posted pretraining researcher and engineer roles in this recorded board?
Recorded board: Anthropic (8), Reflection AI (3), Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) (2), Thinking Machines Lab (2), Cohere (1), Cursor (Anysphere) (1), and 4 more.
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The board
Recorded postings, newest first
Each title opens the lab's own posting. By family: software engineering at labs · research scientists and engineers · ml systems and infrastructure
- Staff Research Engineer, Multi-Agent Scaling ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Software Engineer, Pretraining ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Staff Research Engineer (LLM Pre-Training) ↗
JetBrains (Junie, Mellum) · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Pre-training Data Infrastructure Engineer ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · Master's or PhD required · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Pretraining ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · Master's or PhD required
- Research Engineer, Pretraining Scaling ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Pretraining Scaling - London ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer, RL Scaling Science ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · Master's or PhD required · $350k to $850k base
- Staff + Sr. Software Engineer, Scaling ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $320k to $485k base
- Member of Technical Staff, Pre-Training Data ↗
Cohere · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Scientist, Robotics Pre-Training and Data Quality, DeepMind ↗
Google DeepMind · Research scientists and engineers · PhD or equivalent experience
- Member of Technical Staff, Pre-training Systems ↗
Magic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $275k to $550k base
- AI Research Scientist, Pre-training Data - MSL FAIR ↗
Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) · Research scientists and engineers · PhD required
- Research Engineer, Pre-training Data - MSL FAIR ↗
Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) · Research scientists and engineers · Master's or PhD required
- Research Scientist, Scaling RL ↗
Periodic Labs · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $225k to $350k base
- Member of Technical Staff - Data Quality Engineer (Pre-training) ↗
Reflection AI · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff - Pre-Training ↗
Reflection AI · Software engineering at labs · Master's or PhD required
- Member of Technical Staff - Pre-Training Infra ↗
Reflection AI · ML systems and infrastructure · No degree stated
- Research, Pre-Training Data ↗
Thinking Machines Lab · Research scientists and engineers · PhD or equivalent experience · $350k to $475k base
- Research, RL Scaling ↗
Thinking Machines Lab · Research scientists and engineers · PhD or equivalent experience · $350k to $475k base
