Research Engineer, AI/ML Systems

About the role

<div class="content-intro"><h2>Who <strong>We Are</strong></h2> <p>Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with less friction.</p> <p>Through our merger with Voltage Park, a neocloud and AI Factory, Lightning AI combines developer-first software with cost-efficient, large-scale compute. Teams get the tools they need for experimentation, training, and production inference, with security, observability, and control built in.</p> <p>We serve solo researchers, startups, and large enterprises. Lightning AI operates globally with offices in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and London, and is backed by Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.</p> <h2 class="PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer" data-section-id="o4nw1n" data-start="0" data-end="18">The Way We Work</h2> <p data-start="20" data-end="222">The people who thrive here are builders who move fast, communicate openly, take ownership, and continuously improve themselves, their teams, and our company. Here's what that looks like in practice:</p> <ul> <li data-section-id="vkpt18" data-start="319" data-end="461"><strong data-start="321" data-end="343">Move with Urgency:</strong> We move quickly, make thoughtful decisions, and keep momentum. We value action over perfection and learn by shipping.</li> <li data-section-id="1c7e9p5" data-start="462" data-end="598"><strong data-start="464" data-end="483">Take Ownership:</strong> We own outcomes, not just our individual work. We make decisions that move the company forward and follow through.</li> <li data-section-id="1wm6yoj" data-start="599" data-end="751"><strong data-start="601" data-end="624">Communicate Openly:</strong> We communicate directly, seek to understand, and create clarity for others. Honest conversations help us move faster together.</li> <li data-section-id="1w7531e" data-start="752" data-end="874"><strong data-start="754" data-end="776">Build Great Teams:</strong> We lead by example, empower others, and create healthy teams where people can do their best work.</li> <li data-section-id="jb6f5l" data-start="875" data-end="1036"><strong data-start="877" data-end="895">Raise the Bar:</strong> We're always improving ourselves. We learn from feedback, consistently challenge ourselves to grow, and focus on the work that matters most.</li> <li data-section-id="12lc0uc" data-start="1037" data-end="1184"><strong data-start="1039" data-end="1059">Think Long-Term:</strong> We design for what's next. We create scalable systems, simplify complexity, and use AI and automation to amplify our impact.</li> </ul> <div class="c-message_actions__container c-message__actions">&nbsp;</div></div><h2>What We're Looking For</h2> <p>We're looking for a curious, adaptable <strong>Research Engineer </strong>who enjoys solving difficult technical problems and building across the AI stack to join our Research Engineering function here at Lightning.</p> <p>This role is intentionally broad, with a primary focus on post-training models and the systems that support it. You’ll work across ML engineering, software engineering, and AI systems to improve how we develop, train, evaluate, and deploy models. As team priorities evolve, you’ll have opportunities to contribute across developer tooling, infrastructure, and platform capabilities that help researchers and customers develop, train, and deploy AI more effectively.</p> <p>We're looking for someone who enjoys learning new technologies, working across multiple technical domains, and tackling whatever problems have the greatest impact. Strong software engineering fundamentals, curiosity, and a willingness to continuously learn are more important than already being an expert in every area of AI systems. If you've spent meaningful time building AI projects, experimenting with PyTorch, contributing to open source, reprodu

Skills