Research Engineer - Model Architectures

Department: R&D - Engineering

Location: San Francisco

Employment Type: FullTime

Zyphra is an artificial intelligence company based in San Francisco, California.

The Role:

As a Research Engineer - Model Architectures, you will be a core contributor to Zyphra’s AI Architecture Research Team. This will involve designing and rigorously testing novel model architectures and training methodologies, with a focus on improving core modeling capabilities (e.g., loss per flop or loss per parameter) and addressing fundamental bottlenecks in contemporary models. You will also work extremely closely with our pre-training team, who will integrate your insights into our next-generation models.

What We're Looking For / Requirements:

• Strong research taste and intuition

• The ability to work through a research project from conception to execution to write-up

• Strong implementation and prototyping ability can take an idea from conception to experimentation extremely quickly

• The ability to work well and cooperate with others in a high-paced research setting

• Curiosity, interest, and joy in understanding intelligence.

Qualifications / Additional Skills:

• Previous experience with long-term memory, RAG/retrieval systems, dynamic/adaptive computation, and alternative approaches to credit assignment

• Experience with reinforcement learning, control theory, and signal processing

• Generally, a joy in inventing and seriously assessing ‘crazy’ ideas, and the ability to have a unique perspective on things

• Understanding of modern training pipelines and the hardware requirements to design efficient architectures for GPU hardware

• Strong grasp of proper experimental methodology for running rigorous ablations and other hypothesis testing

• High proficiency with PyTorch and Python.

• Strong ability to jump into large pre-existing codebases and rapidly get up to speed and become productive

• Previously published machine learning research in well-respected venues

• Postgraduate degree in a scientific subject (Computer Science, EE/EECS, Math, Physics)

Why Work at Zyphra:

• Our research methodology is to make grounded, methodical steps toward ambitious goals. Both deep research and engineering excellence are equally valued

• We strongly value new and crazy ideas and are very willing to bet big on new ideas

• We move as quickly as we can; we aim to minimize the bar to impact as low as possible

• We all enjoy what we do and love discussing AI

Benefits and Perks:

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and FSA plans

• Competitive compensation and 401(k) plan

• Relocation and immigration support on a case-by-case basis

• In-office snacks and meals provided

• Unlimited PTO and company holidays

• In-person team in San Francisco with a collaborative, high-energy environment