AI Researcher — AI Architecture Research at Featherless AI (World)
Featherless AI· World·
Role details
Work type
Remote
Employment
Full-Time
Job description
ABOUT THE ROLE
We’re looking for an AI Researcher focused on AI architecture research to help design, analyze, and advance next-generation model architectures. You’ll work at the intersection of theory and production—publishing novel research while collaborating closely with engineers to turn ideas into real systems.
This role is ideal for someone who has published research papers and wants to see their work directly shape deployed models, not just benchmarks.
WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON
- Research and design novel AI architectures (e.g. alternatives to standard Transformer designs, long-context models, efficient sequence modeling, hybrid architectures)
- Explore architectural improvements for scalability, efficiency, and stability
- Prototype and evaluate new architectures through ablations, benchmarks, and empirical studies
- Author and co-author research papers for top ML conferences and journals
- Collaborate with engineering teams to translate research into training and inference systems
- Stay current with state-of-the-art research and identify promising directions early
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
- Strong background in machine learning research, with a focus on model architecture
- Publication record in ML/AI venues (e.g. NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, COLM, ACL, EMNLP, arXiv)
- Deep understanding of:
- Neural network architectures
- Sequence models and attention mechanisms
- Training dynamics and optimization
- Hands-on experience with PyTorch or JAX
- Ability to reason rigorously, design clean experiments, and communicate results clearly
- Comfortable working in a fast-moving startup environment
NICE TO HAVE
- Experience with non-Transformer architectures (e.g. RNN-based, state-space, hybrid models)
- Work on long-context or memory-efficient models
- Open-source research contributions
- Experience bridging research and production systems
- Background in efficient training or inference-aware architecture design
WHY JOIN US
- High ownership over research direction and roadmap
- Clear path to publishing impactful work
- Tight feedback loop between research and real-world deployment
- Small, highly technical team with strong research culture
- Competitive compensation and meaningful equity
Why work at Featherless AI
- High-Growth Stage: As a Series A startup with strong investor backing, this is an opportunity to join a company experiencing rapid scaling, which offers significant career growth and impact potential.
- Impact & Ownership: Employees are likely to have high autonomy and a direct impact on the company's trajectory, from building core infrastructure to driving revenue.
- Remote-First & Global Team: Based on the distributed headcount across 9 countries (US, Singapore, Canada, UK, Belgium, etc.), the company is clearly remote-first, offering flexibility in where you work. Job postings reflect opportunities in the US and Europe (e.g., Paris, Berlin).
- Cutting-Edge Technical Challenge: The core work involves solving complex problems in AI inference, GPU orchestration, and MLOps, making it a compelling place for engineers and researchers passionate about AI infrastructure.
- Culture & Values: The company's deep ties to open-source AI communities and its "flat-rate, no-surprises" pricing philosophy likely translate into a transparent, developer-friendly internal culture. The small, highly-skilled team (14 people) suggests a close-knit, high-performing environment.