Infrastructure & Technology AI Foundations - Research Software Engineer Professional Cambridge

At IBM Research, we are the innovation engine of IBM. Exploring what’s next in computing and shaping the technologies the world will rely on tomorrow. From advancing AI and hybrid cloud to pioneering practical quantum computing, we anticipate challenges and unlock new opportunities for clients, partners, and society. Working in Research means joining a team that accelerates discovery at the intersection of high-performance computing, AI, quantum, and cloud.

You’ll collaborate with leading scientists, engineers, and visionaries to push boundaries and turn ideas into reality. With a culture built on curiosity, creativity, and collaboration, IBM Research offers the opportunity to grow your career while contributing to breakthroughs that transform industries and change the world.

IBM Research is seeking an innovative and driven Research Engineer to build the future of the open model weight ecosystem. In this role, you will be at the forefront of foundation model/software harness co-design. You will bridge the gap between cutting‑edge theoretical research and practical application by building the software and model capabilities that make small and medium sized models shine.

This position offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of actually open AI, collaborate with world‑class scientists and academic partners, and publish research that drives the open weight community forward. If you are passionate about hacking on low‑level systems code in the mornings and brainstorming about novel training regimes in the afternoon, we invite you to join our team.

Bachelor's Degree

Bachelor's Degree

• Expertise in compilers, programming languages, or adjacent technical fields (e.g., formal verification, theorem proving, etc.)
• Proficiency in at least one systems programming languages, particularly Rust or C++.
• Demonstrated ability to rapidly prototype, build, and iterate on software projects.

• Hands‑on experience designing, training, and working with Transformer architectures and Large Language Models (LLMs).
• Proven experience designing, building, and managing large‑scale data pipelines.
• Experience programming for GPUs.

IBM Research is the organic growth engine of IBM and an innovation engine for our customers and partners. As part of this mission, IBM Research anticipates and examines 'What's Next in Computing' to ultimately create and integrate the technologies the world relies upon to solve big challenges and unlock new opportunities. We create and pioneer new markets for IBM, our partners and customers as exemplified in our ongoing quest to reach practical and large‑scale quantum computing.

Across IBM Research, we realize the power and potential to accelerate discovery with our partners and clients by combining the power of high performance computing, AI, and Quantum, all integrated through the hybrid cloud.

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on‑going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources…