AI Research Director

Department: Engineering

Location: Austin, TX

Employment Type: FullTime

About Us:

webAI is pioneering the future of artificial intelligence by establishing the first distributed AI infrastructure dedicated to personalized AI. We recognize the evolving demands of a data-driven society for scalability and flexibility, and we firmly believe that the future of AI lies in distributed processing at the edge, bringing computation closer to the source of data generation. Our mission is to build a future where a company's valuable data and intellectual property remain entirely private, enabling the deployment of large-scale AI models directly on standard consumer hardware without compromising the information embedded within those models. We are developing an end-to-end platform that is secure, scalable, and fully under the control of our users, empowering enterprises with AI that understands their unique business. We are a team driven by truth, ownership, tenacity, and humility, and we seek individuals who resonate with these core values and are passionate about shaping the next generation of AI.

About the Role:

The AI Research Director will lead webAI’s advanced research initiatives across large language models, multimodal systems, edge inference, and distributed AI. This role drives the scientific vision behind our core technologies and works closely with engineering leadership to convert cutting-edge research into production-grade capabilities.

You will oversee research teams, establish long-term research roadmaps, design novel model architectures, and push innovation that directly shapes webAI’s platform, model performance, and differentiated technical position. This role is ideal for a hands-on, forward-thinking leader who wants to build what the future of private, distributed AI looks like.

Responsibilities:

• Lead webAI’s AI and ML research strategy including long-term vision, experimentation roadmap, and architectural innovation

• Oversee research on LLMs, diffusion and multimodal models, inference optimization, and distributed execution

• Advance techniques for compression, quantization, distillation, and privacy-preserving learning for edge and on-device AI

• Collaborate with Engineering and Product teams to translate research breakthroughs into scalable production-ready capabilities

• Build, mentor, and lead a world-class research team fostering creativity, scientific rigor, and innovation

• Evaluate emerging technologies, academic research, and industry trends to influence strategic direction

• Design and evaluate experiments, benchmarks, and methodologies for model performance and efficiency

• Represent webAI in research discussions with customers, partners, and the broader AI community

• Ensure research initiatives align with customer missions, security requirements, and enterprise needs

Qualifications:

• You read papers on a daily basis

• 8+ years of experience in AI, machine learning research, deep learning, or related fields

• Experience leading research teams and delivering impactful ML innovations

• Expertise in modern AI architectures including transformers, diffusion models, multimodal systems, and reinforcement learning

• Experience designing, training, and optimizing large-scale ML models

• Strong understanding of distributed systems, edge inference, and model efficiency techniques such as quantization and pruning

• Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX

• Strong research background demonstrated through publications, patents, or deployed innovations

• Ability to communicate complex concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Preferred Skills

• Master’s or PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related field

• Experience with privacy-preserving AI such as federated learning or secure execution

• Strong mathematical foundation in ML optimization and model theory

• Experience integrating novel research into production environments

• Ability to operate in fast-paced, high-growth startup environments

We 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:

• Truth - Emphasizing transparency and honesty in every interaction and decision.

• Ownership - Taking full responsibility for one’s actions and decisions, demonstrating commitment to the success of our clients.

• Tenacity - Persisting in the face of challenges and setbacks, continually striving for excellence and improvement.

• Humility - Maintaining a respectful and learning-oriented mindset, acknowledging the strengths and contributions of others.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits package

• 401(k) match (U.S.-based employees only)

• $200/month Health & Wellness stipend

• Continuing Education support

• $500/year Function Health subscription (U.S.-based employees only)

• Free parking for in-office employees

• Flexible Time Off (FTO)

• Parental leave for eligible employees

• Supplemental life insurance

webAI 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.