Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist - Frontier Lab
On-site · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States or Arlington, Virginia, United States
Job Summary
Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist in the Frontier Lab leads applied research and prototype development for government missions, balancing research and engineering with autonomy and hands-on delivery. Responsibilities include defining technical tasking and milestones, leading technical execution, designing studies and convincing prototypes, establishing evaluation Pipelines to assess performance, robustness, and trustworthiness in mission-representative scenarios, serving as primary technical interface to stakeholders, mentoring junior staff, shaping Frontier Lab research directions, managing multiple priorities, and engaging with internal/external AI/ML communities. The role requires deep expertise in frontier AI-aligned areas (agentic systems, LLM reliability/evaluation, multimodal learning, TEVV pipelines), strong engineering capabilities for prototypes and experimentation, excellent communication, and the ability to work onsite at CMU SEI offices in Pittsburgh, PA or Arlington, VA. Travel ~10% and eligibility for security clearance are required.
Required Qualifications
- BS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, or related field with 10 years of relevant experience; OR MS with 8 years of relevant experience; OR PhD with 5 years of relevant experience
- Deep expertise in frontier lab-aligned areas (agentic systems, LLM reliability/evaluation, CV evaluation, robustness/assurance, TEVV pipelines, multimodal learning, edge ML)
- Strong engineering capability – can build and maintain high-quality prototypes, evaluation infrastructure, and repeatable experimentation workflows
- Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to represent technical work credibly to senior stakeholders
- Demonstrated ability to lead technical workstreams and coordinate multi-person execution
- Experience with secure or operational environments and delivery constraints typical of government settings
- Experience shaping a technical roadmap or research portfolio aligned to sponsor priorities and lab strategy
- Willingness to travel (~10%) to sponsor sites and conferences
- Eligibility to obtain and maintain a Department of War security clearance
- Onsite work requirement at SEI offices in Pittsburgh, PA or Arlington, VA
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