Lead Applied Scientist

Overview

This posting is for proactive recruitment purposes and may be used to fill current openings or future vacancies within our organization.

Are you excited about working at the forefront of applied research in an industry setting? TR Labs is the AI Research & Development arm of Thomson Reuters. We are seeking scientists with a passion for solving problems using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and machine learning. We experiment, we build, we deliver. Our core mission is to innovate industry-leading solutions for Legal, Tax & Accounting, Risk, and News Media professionals.

We systematically explore and develop new technologies, particularly those in relevant areas of AI/ML, with an unwavering focus on customer problems and opportunities.

As a Lead Applied Scientist, you will define research strategy and lead high-impact initiatives that shape Thomson Reuters  AI/ML roadmap across multiple product features. You will drive innovation in specialized domains such as legal reasoning, document understanding, or knowledge graphs, establishing best practices and technical vision. You will provide thought leadership internally and externally, mentoring scientists across Labs and leading stakeholder engagement.

You will develop a deep understanding of customer problems and the data that informs them.

You're a fit for the role of Lead Applied Scientist if your background includes:

• PhD or Master s degree with equivalent industry experience in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field
• 7+ years of hands-on experience building production IR, NLP, ML, or GenAI systems leveraging modern techniques
• Demonstrated experience leading through others in cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end AI capabilities
• Strong product mindset with ability to translate complex customer problems into successful AI applications
• Proven ability to demonstrate novel methods that influence product roadmaps and business outcomes
• Outstanding communication and analytical skills
• Deep expertise in RAG architectures, agentic frameworks, tool-using systems, and evaluation methodologies
• Significant experience developing novel methods for complex professional domains such as medical, tax, or law
• Publications at top-tier venues (ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS, ICLR, SIGIR, KDD)
• Experience delivering production code with well-managed software/MLOps practices

• Hybrid Work Model: Flexible hybrid environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) with a digitally and physically connected experience.
• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way policies to manage personal and professional responsibilities, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year.
• Career Development and Growth: Continuous learning and skill development with Grow My Way programming and a skills-first approach.
• Industry Competitive Benefits: Comprehensive benefits including flexible vacation, mental health days, Headspace access, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, and wellbeing resources.
• Culture: Inclusive, award-winning culture with values:
  Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y) our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, Stronger Together.
• Social Impact: Social Impact Institute with two paid volunteer days per year and opportunities for pro-bono and ESG initiatives.
• Making a Real-World Impact: Our work helps uphold the rule of law, support transparency, and provide trusted information globally.

Note:

Our use of AI in recruitment is to support parts of the process. Unless you opt out, an AI system may assess your information against role requirements and present results to recruitment personnel for review. A human makes the final decision on eligibility for the role.

In the United States, Thomson Reuters offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, a 401k with company match, paid time off, holidays (including two mental health days), parental leave, sabbatical options, and additional options such as hospital/accident insurance, Flexible Spending/HSA, fitness reimbursement, and more. Some benefits meet or exceed legal requirements…