AI Research Scientist

Location:

Remote (US)

Employment Type:

Full-Time

Reports To:

Co-Founder / CEO

Compensation: $160,000 – $240,000 USD per year

Closing Date: 08/05/2026

We are looking for a highly skilled and curiosity-driven AI Research Scientist to help advance the state of the art in applied artificial intelligence at Locked In AI. This is a deep research role with direct production impact. You will design novel algorithms, explore new model architectures, run rigorous experiments, and translate cutting‑edge research into scalable systems that power our real‑time AI copilot used by over 1 million users.

You will work at the intersection of Natural Language Processing (NLP), Real‑time inference systems, Dialogue modeling, Generative AI, Speech and multimodal intelligence.

• Foundational AI Research
  • Conduct original, high‑impact research in NLP, LLMs, dialogue systems, and generative AI.
  • Define novel research problems inspired by real‑time interview and communication challenges.
  • Develop new algorithms, architectures, and training methodologies.
  • Publish research in top‑tier venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, AAAI, Interspeech, etc.).
• Experimentation & Scientific Rigor
  • Design controlled experiments with clear hypotheses and evaluation frameworks.
  • Build benchmarking systems tailored to real‑time conversational AI.
  • Perform ablation studies, error analysis, and statistical validation.
  • Ensure reproducibility and scientific rigor in all research outputs.
• Research‑to‑Production Translation
  • Collaborate with engineering and product teams to deploy research into production.
  • Build prototypes and validate feasibility of new AI approaches.
  • Optimize models for real‑time constraints such as latency, cost, and scalability.
  • Work on model compression, distillation, quantization, and efficient inference systems.
• Advanced NLP & Dialogue Systems
  • Improve multi‑turn dialogue understanding and context tracking.
  • Research context‑aware and personalized response generation.
  • Develop retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) enhancements.
  • Improve real‑time adaptability of AI systems based on user interaction signals.
• Speech & Multimodal AI Research
  • Advance real‑time speech recognition robustness (accents, noise, overlap).
  • Explore multimodal AI combining speech, text, and conversational context.
  • Research prosodic and behavioral signals (tone, pace, hesitation).
  • Work on end‑to‑end spoken language understanding systems.
• Leadership & Collaboration
  • Mentor junior researchers and engineers.
  • Communicate complex research insights to technical and non‑technical teams.
  • Collaborate with academic and industry research communities.
  • Help define the long‑term AI research roadmap.

• Experience
  • 3+ years of AI/ML research experience.
  • Track record of publications or demonstrated research impact.
  • Experience translating research into production systems.
  • Strong collaboration experience with engineering and product teams.
  • Startup or high‑growth environment experience preferred.
• Education
  • Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, AI, NLP, or related field.
  • Exceptional candidates with Master’s + strong research output will be considered.
• Technical Skills
  • Deep understanding of deep learning and transformer‑based models.
  • Strong Python programming and PyTorch/JAX/Tensor Flow expertise.
  • Experience with NLP techniques (pretraining, fine‑tuning, RLHF, DPO, RAG).
  • Strong background in probability, statistics, and linear algebra.
  • Familiarity with ML experiment tracking tools (W&B, MLflow, etc.).
• Soft Skills
  • Strong research intuition combined with production mindset.
  • Ability to independently identify and solve complex problems.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Collaborative and team‑oriented mindset.
• Preferred Qualifications
  • Research in real‑time AI systems or low‑latency inference.
  • Publications in dialogue systems or conversational AI.
  • Experience in speech‑to‑text or multimodal learning.
  • Work on model efficiency (distillation, quantization, speculative decoding).
  • Experience with RLHF or preference optimization methods.
  • Open‑source AI contributions.
  • Startup founding or early‑stage experience.

• Equity – meaning early‑stage equity and ownership in a fast‑growing AI company.
• Impact – your research directly powers a product used by over 1 million users.
• Flexibility – Remote‑first culture with optional hybrid setup in New York City.
• Growth – Fast‑scaling, AI‑native startup environment.
• Culture – Fast execution, deep ownership, user obsession, continuous learning.

Locked In AI is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Hiring decisions are based on merit, skills, and business needs.