Roles at frontier labs · Research
Research Engineer
158 open · October 2, 2026
Research engineers build and run the experiments behind a model: training code, data pipelines, evaluations and the infrastructure that lets researchers iterate fast. At most frontier labs it is the main research role for people without a PhD.
- How language models work 68%
- Evals and benchmarks 65%
- Reinforcement learning 50%
- Python 50%
- Post-training and fine-tuning 46%
- PyTorch 45%
taught here course coming not taught
The numbers
- Open roles now at 28 labs
- 158
- Median base pay middle half $313k to $475k, 66 U.S. bands
- $413k
- State no degree 6% require a PhD outright
- 56%
- Years asked, median of the 62 that state a minimum
- 4
Who is hiring
28 labs are hiring
In the labs' own words
In the labs' own words
“Meaningful experience building with large language models -- whether shipping LLM-powered products, developing agents or workflows, or integrating models into production systems”
“Experience working with Generative AI/LLMs, specifically in model fine-tuning, custom dataset curation, and designing evaluation pipelines.”
“Experience with LLM training or post‑training: fine‑tuning, RL, distillation, evaluation, and/or data pipelines.”
Your way in
Three doors to this role
- Door 1
Finishing a degree
23% mention publications
The way in is a program: 44 open now
- Door 2
A software engineer
56% state no degree
What to add
- Door 3
A PhD
27% ask for distributed training
Engineering at scale
Asked often
The short answers
How much does a research engineer at a frontier lab make?
The median U.S. base salary across 66 open research engineer postings that publish a band is $413k; the middle half runs from $313k to $475k. Equity and bonus are not included.
Do you need a PhD to be a research engineer?
56% of the 158 open postings state no degree at all, 35% mention a PhD or master's, and 6% require a PhD outright.
What skills do research engineer postings ask for?
Most often: how language models work (68%), evals and benchmarks (65%), reinforcement learning (50%), python (50%), post-training and fine-tuning (46%).
Which labs are hiring research engineers?
Right now: Anthropic (31), Google DeepMind (24), Mistral AI (14), OpenAI (14), Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) (12), Reflection AI (7), and 22 more.
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The board
Open roles, newest first
The newest 40 of 158. Each title opens the lab's own posting. By family: research scientists and engineers
- Research Engineer, Mid-Training ↗
Cognition · Research scientists and engineers · PhD required
- Research Engineer, ML Infrastructure ↗
Cognition · Research scientists and engineers · PhD required
- Research Engineer, Post-Training ↗
Cognition · Research scientists and engineers · PhD required
- Research Engineer ↗
Factory · Research scientists and engineers · Bachelor's degree
- Research Engineer ↗
Greptile · Research scientists and engineers · PhD preferred · $180k to $280k base
- Research Engineer (Agentic Models) ↗
JetBrains (Junie, Mellum) · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Staff Research Engineer (LLM Pre-Training) ↗
JetBrains (Junie, Mellum) · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- AI Research Engineer, Post-Training ↗
Lovable · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineering Lead ↗
Lovable · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer - Provenance (Paris) ↗
Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff- Research Engineer (Harness Engineering and Agentic Orchestration) ↗
Tessl · Research scientists and engineers · PhD preferred
- Research Engineer, Asta ↗
Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Research scientists and engineers · PhD preferred · $129k to $193k base
- Research Engineer, Climate Modeling ↗
Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Research scientists and engineers · PhD preferred · $147k to $220k base
- Senior Research Engineer, Olmo + Molmo ↗
Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Research scientists and engineers · PhD or equivalent experience · $174k to $261k base
- [Expression of Interest] Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment - London ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Applied AI, Research Engineer ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $300k to $400k base
- ML/Research Engineer, Safeguards ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $500k base
- Research Engineer / Performance Engineer, RL Distributed Systems ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer / Research Scientist, RL Frontiers ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Tokens ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $500k base
- Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $500k base
- Research Engineer, Chip Design RL (Reinforcement Learning) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Code RL (Reinforcement Learning) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Computer Use ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL (Reinforcement Learning) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $300k to $405k base
- Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL (Reinforcement Learning) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer, Discovery ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Interpretability ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $315k to $560k base
- Research Engineer, Knowledge Team ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity) ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Research Engineer, Post-Training Model Evaluations ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $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, Production Model Post-Training ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $350k to $500k base
- Research Engineer, Production Model Post-Training ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Research Engineer, RL Engineering ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
