Machine Learning Research Engineer

$99K - $225K Springfield, VA, US Mid Level Research Engineer

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Skills & Technologies

Pytorch

About This Role

AI job market dashboard showing open roles by category

Machine Learning Research EngineerThe Opportunity:

As an experienced engineer, you know that machine learning is critical to understanding and processing massive datasets. Your ability to conduct statistical analyses on business processes using Machine Learning (ML) techniques makes you an integral part of delivering a customer\-focused solution. We need your technical knowledge and desire to problem\-solve to support the creation of physics\-aware foundational models for remote sensing applications. As a machine learning engineer on our national security team, you’ll train, test, deploy, and maintain models that learn from data.

In this role, you’ll own and define the direction of mission\-critical solutions by applying best\-fit ML algorithms and technologies. You’ll be part of a large community of machine learning engineers across the company and collaborate with data engineers, data scientists, solutions architects, and remote sensing scientists to deliver world class solutions to turn a detailed technical design into a stable, high\-performing, well\-evaluated PyTorch system. You will work across self\-supervised pretraining, lab\-to\-scene alignment, multi\-task model training, uncertainty calibration, benchmarking, and release readiness. This role is ideal for someone who can bridge model research and production\-grade ML engineering. Your skills and extensive technical expertise will guide clients as they navigate the landscape of ML algorithms, tools, and frameworks.

Work with us to solve real\-world challenges and define ML strategy for applied remote sensing.

Join us. The world can’t wait.

You Have:

  • 4\+ years of experience with ML engineering, research engineering, or applied ML development
  • Experience with PyTorch, including building and training deep learning models
  • Experience with transformer\-based models, self\-supervised learning, multi\-task learning, or large\-scale training pipelines
  • Experience with debugging model training issues such as instability, memory bottlenecks, dataloader performance, and reproducibility
  • Experience with software engineering fundamentals, including testing, code review, and maintainable ML workflows
  • Top Secret clearance
  • Bachelor’s degree

Nice If You Have:

  • Experience with computer vision, scientific imaging, remote sensing, or hyperspectral data
  • Experience with masked autoencoders, contrastive learning, retrieval models, or multimodal alignment
  • Experience with uncertainty estimation, calibration, conformal prediction, or OOD detection
  • Experience with distributed training, mixed precision, and GPU performance optimization
  • Experience supporting model evaluation and qualification in high\-stakes or research\-heavy domains
  • TS/SCI clearance
  • Master’s degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Remote Sensing, or a related field preferred; Doctorate degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Remote Sensing, or a related field a plus

Clearance:

Applicants selected will be subject to a security investigation and may need to meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information; Top Secret clearance is required.

Compensation

At Booz Allen, we celebrate your contributions, provide you with opportunities and choices, and support your total well\-being. Our offerings include health, life, disability, financial, and retirement benefits, as well as paid leave, professional development, tuition assistance, work\-life programs, and dependent care. Our recognition awards program acknowledges employees for exceptional performance and superior demonstration of our values. Full\-time and part\-time employees working at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis are eligible to participate in Booz Allen’s benefit programs. Individuals that do not meet the threshold are only eligible for select offerings, not inclusive of health benefits. We encourage you to learn more about our total benefits by visiting the Resource page on our Careers site and reviewing Our Employee Benefits page.

Salary at Booz Allen is determined by various factors, including but not limited to location, the individual’s particular combination of education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract\-specific affordability and organizational requirements. The projected compensation range for this position is $99,000\.00 to $225,000\.00 (annualized USD). The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is just one component of Booz Allen’s total compensation package for employees. This posting will close within 90 days from the Posting Date.Identity Statement

As part of the hiring process, we will ask you to complete an identity verification process that leverages advanced biometrics and artificial intelligence to ensure authenticity and protect against identity fraud. You are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

AI is a part of our daily work at Booz Allen, and we are committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI tools. However, we want to ensure a fair candidate process based on your own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other tools to assist with responses during interviews (whether in\-person or virtual) is prohibited unless permission is explicitly provided.

Work Model

Our people\-first culture prioritizes the benefits of collaboration, whether it occurs in person or virtually. To support engagement and effective communication, employees working virtually are generally expected to have their cameras on during meetings.

  • Remote: If this position is listed as remote, there may still be occasions when you are required to work in person at a Booz Allen or customer facility.
  • Hybrid: If this position is listed as hybrid, you will be expected to work from a Booz Allen facility frequently, in alignment with leadership expectations and the needs of the role. You may also be required to work from or visit a customer facility.
  • Onsite: If this position is listed as onsite, work will primarily be performed at a Booz Allen office or customer facility, where employees will collaborate directly with colleagues and customers as required by the role.

Commitment to Non\-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.

Salary Context

This $99K-$225K range is below the median for Research Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $185K across 51 roles with salary data).

View full Research Engineer salary data →

Role Details

Title Machine Learning Research Engineer
Location Springfield, VA, US
Experience Mid Level
Salary $99K - $225K
Remote No

About This Role

Research Engineers bridge the gap between research and production. They implement papers, build experiment infrastructure, optimize training pipelines, and make research prototypes production-ready. They're the engineers who make research work at scale.

The role sits at a unique intersection. You need to understand the math well enough to implement novel architectures correctly, and you need the engineering chops to make them run efficiently on distributed systems. When a research scientist has a breakthrough idea, you're the person who turns it from a notebook prototype into a training pipeline that runs on 256 GPUs.

Across the 3,824 AI roles we're tracking, Research Engineer positions make up 2% of the market. At Booz Allen Hamilton, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.

Research Engineer roles are growing as AI labs recognize that research velocity depends on engineering quality. The role is less competitive than Research Scientist (no PhD required), but the bar for engineering skill is very high. These roles are concentrated at major labs and well-funded startups.

What the Work Looks Like

A typical week involves: implementing a new attention mechanism from a recent paper, profiling and optimizing a training pipeline that's bottlenecked on data loading, building evaluation infrastructure for a new benchmark, debugging distributed training issues across a GPU cluster, and pair-programming with a research scientist on their latest experiment. The work is deeply technical.

Research Engineer roles are growing as AI labs recognize that research velocity depends on engineering quality. The role is less competitive than Research Scientist (no PhD required), but the bar for engineering skill is very high. These roles are concentrated at major labs and well-funded startups.

Skills Required

Pytorch (15% of roles)

Strong software engineering fundamentals plus ML knowledge. Python, C++, and CUDA experience are common requirements. You'll need to read papers and turn ideas into working code. Distributed systems experience (especially distributed training) is highly valued. Performance optimization skills separate great candidates from good ones.

Experience with large-scale training infrastructure (FSDP, DeepSpeed, Megatron), GPU programming (CUDA, Triton), and the internals of ML frameworks (PyTorch internals, custom autograd functions) is what makes candidates stand out. The best research engineers can debug issues that span the full stack from GPU memory management to numerical precision to algorithmic correctness.

Strong postings mention the team's recent research, the infrastructure scale, and the specific technical challenges. They often list the research areas you'd support. Look for roles that emphasize both implementation quality and research understanding.

Compensation Benchmarks

Research Engineer roles pay a median of $260,000 based on 401 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $160,000. This role's midpoint ($162K) sits 38% below the category median. Disclosed range: $99K to $225K.

Across all AI roles, the market median is $200,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Engineering Manager ($293,500) and AI Safety ($274,200). By seniority level: Entry: $97,380; Mid: $160,000; Senior: $227,400; Director: $243,000; VP: $250,000.

Booz Allen Hamilton AI Hiring

Booz Allen Hamilton has 11 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, AI Software Engineer, Research Engineer, MLOps Engineer. Positions span O'Fallon, IL, US, Alexandria, VA, US, Springfield, VA, US. Compensation range: $158K - $303K.

Location Context

Across all AI roles, 16% (613 positions) offer remote work, while 3,187 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,448 roles, $210,000 median); San Francisco (1,990 roles, $253,000 median); Los Angeles (1,686 roles, $189,000 median).

Career Path

Common paths into Research Engineer roles include Software Engineer, ML Engineer, Research Intern.

From here, career progression typically leads toward Senior Research Engineer, Research Scientist, ML Architect.

This is one of the best entry points into AI research without a PhD. Build a strong engineering portfolio with ML projects, contribute to open-source ML frameworks, and demonstrate that you can implement complex ideas correctly and efficiently. The transition to Research Scientist is possible with published first-author work, which some research engineer roles support.

What to Expect in Interviews

Technical screens test both engineering skill and research understanding. Expect coding rounds with performance-critical implementations (GPU optimization, efficient data loading). Be prepared to discuss papers relevant to the team's research area and explain how you'd implement key ideas. System design questions focus on training infrastructure: distributed training, experiment tracking, and compute resource management.

When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings mention the team's recent research, the infrastructure scale, and the specific technical challenges. They often list the research areas you'd support. Look for roles that emphasize both implementation quality and research understanding.

AI Hiring Overview

The AI job market has 3,824 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 119 entry-level, 1,813 mid-level, 1,472 senior, and 420 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 16% of the market (613 positions). The remaining 3,187 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.

The market median for AI roles is $200,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. Highest-paying categories: AI Engineering Manager ($293,500 median, 31 roles); AI Safety ($274,200 median, 51 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 401 roles).

Research Engineer roles are growing as AI labs recognize that research velocity depends on engineering quality. The role is less competitive than Research Scientist (no PhD required), but the bar for engineering skill is very high. These roles are concentrated at major labs and well-funded startups.

The AI Job Market Today

The AI job market spans 3,824 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,702), Data Scientist (281), AI Software Engineer (258). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.

The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (119) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,813) and senior (1,472) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 420 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.

Remote work availability sits at 16% of all AI roles (613 positions), with 3,187 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.

AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $200,000. Top-quartile roles start at $253,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $307,500. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.

Category matters for compensation. AI Engineering Manager roles lead at $293,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $142,800. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.

The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,968 postings), Aws (1,203 postings), Azure (882 postings), Rag (877 postings), Gcp (735 postings), Prompt Engineering (587 postings), Pytorch (586 postings), Claude (554 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Based on 401 roles with disclosed compensation, the median salary for Research Engineer positions is $260,000. Actual compensation varies by seniority, location, and company stage.
Strong software engineering fundamentals plus ML knowledge. Python, C++, and CUDA experience are common requirements. You'll need to read papers and turn ideas into working code. Distributed systems experience (especially distributed training) is highly valued. Performance optimization skills separate great candidates from good ones.
About 16% of the 3,824 AI roles we track offer remote work. Remote availability varies by company and seniority level, with senior and leadership roles more likely to offer location flexibility.
Booz Allen Hamilton is among the companies actively hiring for AI and ML talent. Check our company profiles for detailed breakdowns of open roles, salary ranges, and hiring trends.
Common next steps from Research Engineer positions include Senior Research Engineer, Research Scientist, ML Architect. Progression depends on whether you lean toward technical depth, people management, or product strategy.

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