---
title: 'Principal AI/ML Researcher at Whoop'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-ai-ml-researcher-whoop-boston-awa24v3bt7v4'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Principal AI/ML Researcher at Whoop

- **Company:** [Whoop](https://feeny.ai/companies/whoop)
- **Location:** Boston, MA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/whoop/eefc60a9-fec8-4df6-bd4b-5b75bf57e04c

## Job description

WHOOP is an advanced health and fitness wearable on a mission to unlock human performance and extend healthspan. By providing members with a deep understanding of their bodies, behaviors, and daily lives, WHOOP empowers healthier choices and peak performance.

We are seeking a Principal AI Researcher to join our Foundation AI team. This team builds the foundation models that underpin WHOOP’s next generation of intelligent, personalized, and health-enhancing experiences. These models integrate data across wearable sensors, language, biomarkers, clinical information, and self-reported inputs to create scalable AI systems that understand human physiology and behavior.

In this role, you'll be one of the senior technical leaders at WHOOP.  You will own the technical execution of our foundation modeling workstreams and your technical judgment will shape a core part of WHOOP’s AI efforts and the products they power.

## RESPONSIBILITIES:

- Set the architectural direction for the development of large-scale models spanning wearable sensor data, text, biomarkers, and behavioral signals, and personally own the highest-stakes, hardest-to-reverse design decisions.
- Identify which research bets in self-supervised and representation learning are worth making, and drive the most ambiguous and unproven ones from thesis to validated, production capability.
- Contribute to the broader AI  strategy and standards at WHOOP, shaping the platform, compute, and infrastructure choices the team operates on, not just working within them.
- Partner across research, product, and engineering to connect technical breakthroughs to product and business outcomes.
- Raise the technical bar across the team: grow staff and senior engineers, strengthen design-review and evaluation norms, and act as a force multiplier.
- Represent WHOOP's technical work externally, helping with recruiting, partnerships, and visibility in the broader AI research community.

## QUALIFICATIONS:

- Advanced degree (Master’s or Ph.D.) or equivalent depth, with extensive experience in large-scale machine learning and AI research.
- A track record of owning technical direction for a significant area and making architectural decisions whose impact outlived any single project.
- Demonstrated ability to take ambiguous, high-risk research directions all the way to production impact and the judgment to discontinue those that will not.
- Deep expertise in modern deep learning (transformers, state space models), multimodal training, self-supervised and representation learning, RL-based post-training (PPO/DPO/GRPO), and large-scale distributed training (data, model, and context parallelism).
- A history of being a technical authority that teams defer to, and evidence of multiplying their output.
- Excellent communication and the ability to influence both the engineering bench and senior leadership.
- Publications and evidence of community building at top-tier machine learning venues.
- Passion for WHOOP's mission to improve human performance and extend healthspan through science and technology.

This role is based in the WHOOP office located in Boston, MA. The successful candidate must be prepared to relocate if necessary to work out of the Boston, MA office.

Interested in the role, but don’t meet every qualification? We encourage you to still apply! At WHOOP, we believe there is much more to a candidate than what is written on paper, and we value character as much as experience. As we continue to build a diverse and inclusive environment, we encourage anyone who is interested in this role to apply.

WHOOP is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-verify https://www.e-verify.gov/ to determine employment eligibility.  It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

The WHOOP compensation philosophy is designed to attract, motivate, and retain exceptional talent by offering competitive base salaries, meaningful equity, and consistent pay practices that reflect our mission and core values.

At WHOOP, we view total compensation as the combination of base salary, equity, and benefits, with equity serving as a key differentiator that aligns our employees with the long-term success of the company and allows every member of our corporate team to own part of WHOOP and share in the company’s long-term growth and success.

The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $270,000 - $300,000. Salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within each range, individual pay is based on factors such as job-related skills, experience, performance, and relevant education or training.

In addition to the base salary, the successful candidate will also receive benefits and a generous equity package.

These ranges may be modified in the future to reflect evolving market conditions and organizational needs. While most offers will typically fall toward the starting point of the range, total compensation will depend on the candidate’s specific qualifications, expertise, and alignment with the role’s requirements.

## About Whoop

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: WHOOP is a human performance optimization platform that uses a wearable device and 24/7 monitoring to help members improve sleep, strain, recovery, and overall health.
- **Entity Type**: Private (funding stage not publicly available in provided sources)
- **Headquarters**: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- **Founded**: 2012
- **Founders**: Will Ahmed

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Wearable health technology, human performance optimization
- **Target customers**: B2C (consumers, athletes) and B2B (professional sports teams, organizations)
- **Mission**: “To unlock human performance and Healthspan.” [whoop.com - About](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/about/)

## Products & Services
- **WHOOP 5.0 + Subscription**: A non-screen wrist-worn wearable with 14+ day battery life that continuously monitors sleep, strain, recovery, heart rate, heart rate variability, and 65+ biomarkers. The platform provides personalized coaching, blood pressure insights, women’s hormonal insights, VO₂ max, heart rate zones, and mental health tracking. Type: Hardware + SaaS subscription. [whoop.com - Homepage](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available from provided sources
- **Key Metric**: Not publicly available (annual revenue not disclosed); estimated headcount of 500 employees [Built In Boston](https://www.builtinboston.com/company/whoop)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not disclosed in provided sources
- **Growth Signals**: 500 total employees; hybrid workspace (4 days on-site per week); actively hiring across Engineering, AI/ML, Data & Analytics, Product, and Design; only 0.13% of applicants are hired, indicating high selectivity and strong talent demand. [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/) | [Built In Boston](https://www.builtinboston.com/company/whoop)

## Competitive Advantages
- Proprietary 24/7 physiological monitoring with advanced sensor technology and an ultra-long battery life (14+ days)
- Deep scientific foundation – founded after reviewing over 500 medical papers
- Personalized coaching and insight delivery based on individual biometric data
- Strong brand recognition among elite athletes and mainstream consumers
- Privacy-first design with encrypted data storage [whoop.com - Homepage](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/)

## Strategic Focus
- Expanding health insights: introducing blood pressure monitoring, women’s hormonal health features, and heart health tracking
- Enhancing AI/ML capabilities (evident from many open AI/ML roles) [jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/whoop)
- Deepening enterprise/B2B partnerships with sports organizations and research institutions
- Continuing to build out Healthspan and longevity features

## Why Work Here
- **Hybrid workspace** – employees are on-site 4 days a week in Boston’s “best office” [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/)
- **Benefits** – flexible time off, above-market compensation, paid parental leave, health support [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/)
- **Employee Resource Groups** – ADAPT (disability inclusion), BLACK@WHOOP, LGBTQ+ (WHOOP GOOP), Veterans and Military Personnel, Women of WHOOP, Women in Science and Engineering, WHOOP Parents [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/)
- **High selectivity** – only 0.13% of applicants are hired, reflecting a rigorous, standards-driven culture [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/)
- **Equal Opportunity Employer** – committed to diversity and inclusion in all employment decisions [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/)

## Sources
1. [whoop.com - Careers](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/careers/)
2. [whoop.com - About](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/about/)
3. [whoop.com - Homepage](https://www.whoop.com/us/en/)
4. [Built In Boston - WHOOP Office Profile](https://www.builtinboston.com/company/whoop)
5. [jobs.lever.co - WHOOP Job Listings](https://jobs.lever.co/whoop)

## Other roles at Whoop

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- [Manager, Immigration & Global Mobility](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-immigration-global-mobility-whoop-boston-cs3md62x0hqe) — Boston, MA
- [Director, Data Governance](https://feeny.ai/job/director-data-governance-whoop-boston-e4dt7r9pnbrq) — Boston, MA
- [Director, Enablement- Membership Services](https://feeny.ai/job/director-enablement-membership-services-whoop-boston-7tjnj7311jfc) — Boston, MA
- [Senior Product Manager, Sensing](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-product-manager-sensing-whoop-boston-74033x64kasj) — Boston, MA
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