--- title: 'Machine Learning Research Engineer (MLRE) - GPUs at Achira' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-research-engineer-mlre-gpus-achira-san-francisco-j6mm7fjed50y' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-12' --- # Machine Learning Research Engineer (MLRE) - GPUs at Achira - **Company:** Achira - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-04-29 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/achira/f7893ad8-8da1-4ae3-b56b-151feb17d324 ## Job description ## Why Achira At Achira, we are building a team of world-class scientists, ML researchers, and engineers to work together to move beyond the beaten path in drug discovery. We are actively exploring the next frontier of model architectures for AI x Chemistry: developing world models for the physical microcosm. Our goal is to make biology at the molecular level something that can be learned, predicted, and designed. At Achira, you’ll operate at the frontier scale of massive compute, massive data, and massive ambition. You’ll own impactful work end-to-end, from ideation to architecture to deployment on distributed infrastructure. We are a well-funded, talent-dense organization that values rigor, speed, execution, and an ownership mindset. We’re looking for new members who share our sense of relentless urgency and are natural collaborators who value team success. ## About the Role We're looking for a rare individual who thrives at the intersection of cutting-edge deep learning architectures and high-performance computing. You will help shape the future of molecular machine learning by engineering high-efficiency implementations of advanced architectures for foundation simulation models, accelerating simulations to the limits of the hardware while maintaining fidelity to the underlying physics. While we prefer candidates willing to relocate to San Francisco or New York City, we are willing to consider full-time remote candidates of exceptional talent who are willing to travel frequently to our two office sites. Travel is part of all roles at Achira, both to conferences and corporate on-site activities. ## What You’ll Do - Take existing PyTorch and JAX, profile and optimize it without compromising model accuracy, reproducibility, and robustness with respect to scientific objectives. - Develop with frameworks like CUDA, Triton, Warp, etc. to accelerate performance critical code sections. - Liaise with NVIDIA to represent our needs and implement their tooling in our environment. - Work day-to-day with scientists to identify areas of greatest impact, including travel to our SF and NY working groups to collaborate. ## About You - Engineer with at least two years professional experience in GPU optimization. - Deep understanding of GPU programming fundamentals. - Solid track record of observable artifacts (e.g., GitHub) showing optimization work. - Experience collaborating on software projects across multi-person teams. ## Nice to Have Even if you hit none of these bonus features, we encourage you to apply! - Experience working with multi-cloud distributed compute systems. - Experience working with multi-site distributed company team. - Experience working with equivariant architectures that operate on 3-D point clouds. ## About Achira ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Achira builds atomistic foundation simulation models that blend geometric deep learning, generative AI, physics, and quantum chemistry to power the next generation of drug discovery and materials design. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed Stage) - **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: John Chodera (CEO/President), Theofanis Karaletsos, Zavain Dar (Board) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Biotechnology Research / AI-driven Drug Discovery - **Target customers**: Pharmaceutical and biotech R&D teams (B2B); drug discovery scientists seeking advanced computational tools - **Mission or purpose statement**: To create a fundamentally new way of modeling and simulating the world at the atomistic scale, turning intractable extrapolation problems into tractable interpolation problems by learning the underlying physical laws that govern matter. ## Products & Services - **Molecular World Models**: A new class of foundation simulation models that blend geometric deep learning, generative AI, physics, quantum chemistry, and statistical mechanics. These models are designed to deliver unprecedented performance across biomolecular applications, transforming drug discovery and materials design into true inverse design problems. - **Agentic Discovery Platform (in partnership with NVIDIA)**: Announced at BIO2026 (June 2026), this platform advances molecular world models for agentic discovery, leveraging NVIDIA's computing infrastructure. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company) - **Key Metric**: **$33M in total funding** (Seed round, March 2025) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Dimension, Amplify, NVIDIA, Compound - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount of 17 employees (+54.5% YoY, +6 people) - 82% of staff in technical roles (machine learners, quantum chemists, engineers) - High-profile hires from D. E. Shaw Research, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and other top computational science teams - Partnership with NVIDIA announced at BIO2026 ## Competitive Advantages - **Third-path approach**: Unlike pure ML methods (which are data-hungry) or traditional molecular dynamics (which is computationally limited), Achira's models learn the underlying physical laws, making them exceptionally data-efficient for out-of-distribution prediction. - **World-class team**: Founders and technical staff with deep expertise in quantum chemistry, machine learning, and drug discovery, drawn from top institutions. - **NVIDIA partnership**: Direct access to cutting-edge computing infrastructure and co-development resources. - **Foundational technology**: Their approach is positioned as a platform technology applicable across drug discovery and materials science, not just a single-product solution. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Building and scaling molecular world models; advancing agentic discovery capabilities; expanding the team of machine learners and software engineers; partnering with drug discovery scientists to validate and deploy models in real-world scenarios. - **Direction for growth**: To become the foundational computational layer for programming matter, enabling inverse design across biomolecular and materials applications. ## Why Work Here - **Culture highlights**: A team of "machine learners, quantum chemists, engineers, computer scientists, and entrepreneurs" united by an "uncompromising drive to build the foundational technological substrate for programming matter." Emphasis on intellectual ambition and scientific rigor. - **Remote/hybrid/office policy**: Presence in New York, NY (HQ) and Italy. Specific policy not stated, but the team is currently 94% US-based. - **Notable perks or engineering culture**: Opportunity to work on the frontier of AI + physical sciences; high concentration of technical talent (82% of staff); direct collaboration with NVIDIA; chance to shape a foundational technology from an early stage. The company actively seeks "machine learners and software engineers" and encourages applicants even if no perfect role is listed. ## Sources 1. [achira.ai](https://achira.ai/) 2. [achira.ai/about](https://achira.ai/about/) 3. [achira.ai/careers](https://achira.ai/careers/) 4. [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/achira-ai) 5. [datanyze.com](https://www.datanyze.com/companies/achira/5000059998) ## Other roles at Achira - [People Operations Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-manager-achira-san-francisco-2ww83xn8nzc3) — San Francisco, CA - [ML Research Scientist (MLRS) - Representation Learning for Molecular AI](https://feeny.ai/job/ml-research-scientist-mlrs-representation-learning-for-molecular-ai-achira-san-g4avp0c6b7k4) — San Francisco, CA - [ML Research Scientist (MLRS) - Generative AI](https://feeny.ai/job/ml-research-scientist-mlrs-generative-ai-achira-san-francisco-6ye40kf8h9a1) — San Francisco, CA - [CADD / Application Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/cadd-application-scientist-achira-new-york-7sw69t5gkw6h) — New York, NY - [Machine Learning Research Engineer (MLRE) - Workflows/Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-research-engineer-mlre-workflows-systems-achira-san-francisco-0vf8drtv0h8m) — San Francisco, CA - [Machine Learning Research Engineer (MLRE) - Research](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-research-engineer-mlre-research-achira-san-francisco-nh4m4asmxj8h) — San Francisco, CA - [SWE - Distributed](https://feeny.ai/job/swe-distributed-achira-san-francisco-d8wh3r550t76) — San Francisco, CA