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About This Role
GE Vernova Research\-Energy Research is looking for a Research Engineer –High voltage insulation and dielectric materials. You will contribute to and lead the development of projects and technologies related to high voltage dielectric insulation material and process development for energy device and system applications. This role will have exciting opportunities to help define and develop sustainable solutions to the biggest challenges in the ongoing Energy Transition and sustainability fuels, which is the core of GE Vernova business.
GE Vernova’s Advanced Research Center is the central innovation engine for GE Vernova’s portfolio of energy businesses. The research organization is made up of 300\+ researchers representing virtually every major scientific and engineering discipline. Collectively, they are driving major research programs and initiatives to decarbonize power, accelerate renewables, and promote electrification and the creation of a 21st century grid fit to power a zero\-carbon energy future.
Job Description
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As a Research Engineer – high voltage dielectric insulation materials, you will:
- Conduct and lead projects in research and development of materials for high voltage dielectric and or thermal insulation for electrical generators and motors, transformers, switchgear, circuit breakers, substation and other electrical equipment applications
- Conduct and lead basic \& applied research including materials chemistry formulation and applicating process development, new materials with improved insulating properties, such as polymers, ceramics, composites, liquid, oil, and gas
- Testing and Evaluation: design and conducting lab scale experiments to assess the performance of insulation materials in various environments and under different stress conditions, high voltage electrical breakdown, partial discharge…
- Characterization: Analyzing the chemical, electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of materials under high voltage conditions.
- Failure Analysis: Investigating the causes of electrical breakdown in insulation materials and developing solutions to prevent it. postmortem analysis, performance \& stability data analysis and modelling
- Collaboration: Work independently and guide development of new technologies and capabilities to integrate insulation materials into electrical systems and equipment.
- Design \& execute experiments, and independently lead tasks to benefit GE Vernova businesses and customers.
- Shape proposals with GEV businesses, government agencies, universities, and national laboratories. Contribute and lead proposal teams as Principal Investigator or as a team member.
- Prepare written reports and presentations for stakeholders that describe the value, strategy \& approach and results of work.
- Coordinate analytical work to define, meet or exceed customer entitlements.
- Develop and identify new technology, products and service opportunities in the area of energy materials, device and system
- Connect the organization to the latest technology developments and trends.
- Be aware of competing and disruptive technologies and leverage that knowledge to develop robust technology for the business
Minimum Qualifications
- Doctorate Degree in Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field. Must have a minimum of 2 years of hands\-on experience in developing or testing high\-voltage insulation materials specifically for energy system applications (e.g., generators, switchgear, transformers, and circuit breakers).
- Proven track record of innovation evidenced by at least 3–5 peer\-reviewed publications, manuscript submission or patents in fields related to high\-voltage dielectric insulation, material synthesis, system design, or multi\-physics modeling.
- Demonstrated proficiency with at least 2 years of experience in electrical type fabrications, epoxy resin synthesis, curing processes, and the handling or synthesis of insulation gases.
- Advanced understanding of organic and inorganic material chemistry, with at least 2 years of practical experience in formulation and processing, specifically regarding the optimization of electrical, mechanical, thermal, and chemical material characteristics.
- Comprehensive knowledge of high\-voltage engineering principles, including electric field analysis, breakdown phenomena, and insulation coordination, backed by at least 2 years of application\-based experience in power equipment design or testing.
- Hands\-on experience with at least 2 years of operational use of advanced materials characterization diagnostic techniques, including dielectric spectroscopy, optical/electron microscopy, and thermal analysis (e.g., DSC, TGA).
- In\-depth familiarity with relevant industry standards (e.g., IEEE, IEC, ASTM) and testing procedures for high\-voltage insulation, demonstrated through at least 2 years of active involvement in standards\-compliant qualification or quality assurance testing.
Eligibility Requirements
- Must be willing to work out of an office located in Niskayuna, NY.
- Legal authorization to work in the U.S. is required.
- We will not sponsor individuals at the Masters level for employment visas, now or in the future, for this job opening.
- Must be 18 years or older.
- You must submit your application for employment at www.gecareers.com to be considered.
Desired Characteristics
- Expertise in high voltage Insulation materials (including but not limited to solid, polymer, liquid, oil, and gas) synthesis, fabrication and application process, from lab scale to manufacturing factory, materials include but not limited to solid, polymer, liquid, and gas, format can be coating, film, liquid, tapes, gases.
- Experience with the design and synthesis of new materials (electrical composite types, epoxy resins, silicone, insulation gases, engineering thermoplastic and thermoset polymers, or nano\-structured polymers), surface functionalization, surface coating, slurry formulation, thermal and radiation\-based curing, blending and their associated manufacturing processes.
- Experience at relevant standards and testing procedures for high voltage insulation materials, experience at design and assembly customized lab scale test rigs, high voltage cages
- Experience at Materials Characterization Techniques: Experience with techniques like dielectric spectroscopy, microscopy (optical and electron), and thermal analysis.
- Familiar with system design for generators, switchgears, transformers, and other device or equipment
- Demonstrated history of project leadership, publications and IP generation
- Strong data analytical skills, demonstrated creative problem\-solving skills using innovative and hands\-on solutions.
- Self\-motivated and ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
- Strong interpersonal skills, highly motivated, self\-confidence and have goals for a career in industrial research.
- Ability to adapt to change and willingness to be flexible in a global team environment.
GE Vernova offers a great work environment, professional development, challenging careers, and competitive compensation. GE Vernova is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.
GE Vernova will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States for this opening. Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a drug screen (as applicable).
Relocation Assistance Provided: Yes
For candidates applying to a U.S. based position, the pay range for this position is between $89,300\.00 and $148,700\.00\. The Company pays a geographic differential of 110%, 120% or 130% of salary in certain areas. The specific pay offered may be influenced by a variety of factors, including the candidate’s experience, education, and skill set.
Bonus eligibility: discretionary annual bonus.
This posting is expected to remain open for at least seven days after it was posted on August 11, 2026\.
Available benefits include medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage; access to Health Coach from GE Vernova, a 24/7 nurse\-based resource; and access to the Employee Assistance Program, providing 24/7 confidential assessment, counseling and referral services. Retirement benefits include the GE Vernova Retirement Savings Plan, a tax\-advantaged 401(k) savings opportunity with company matching contributions and company retirement contributions, as well as access to Fidelity resources and financial planning consultants. Other benefits include tuition assistance, adoption assistance, paid parental leave, disability benefits, life insurance, 12 paid holidays, and permissive time off.
GE Vernova Inc. or its affiliates (collectively or individually, “GE Vernova”) sponsor certain employee benefit plans or programs GE Vernova reserves the right to terminate, amend, suspend, replace, or modify its benefit plans and programs at any time and for any reason, in its sole discretion. No individual has a vested right to any benefit under a GE Vernova welfare benefit plan or program. This document does not create a contract of employment with any individual.
Salary Context
This $89K-$148K range is in the lower quartile for Research Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $207K across 63 roles with salary data).
View full Research Engineer salary data →Role Details
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 4,317 AI roles we're tracking, Research Engineer positions make up 2% of the market. At GE Vernova, 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
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 $272,100 based on 227 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $194,400. This role's midpoint ($119K) sits 56% below the category median. Disclosed range: $89K to $148K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($287,500) and AI Engineering Manager ($244,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,000; Mid: $194,400; Senior: $227,400; Director: $274,554; VP: $241,000.
GE Vernova AI Hiring
GE Vernova has 9 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Scientist, Research Engineer. Positions span Niskayuna, NY, US, Remote, US. Compensation range: $148K - $219K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 15% (635 positions) offer remote work, while 3,657 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (1,650 roles, $220,000 median); San Francisco (1,335 roles, $265,000 median); Los Angeles (708 roles, $214,112 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 4,317 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 138 entry-level, 2,071 mid-level, 1,655 senior, and 453 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 15% of the market (635 positions). The remaining 3,657 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($287,500 median, 34 roles); Research Engineer ($272,100 median, 227 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($244,000 median, 23 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 4,317 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (3,004), Data Scientist (345), AI Software Engineer (309). 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 (138) are outnumbered by mid-level (2,071) and senior (1,655) 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 453 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 15% of all AI roles (635 positions), with 3,657 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 $215,000. Top-quartile roles start at $266,300, and the 90th percentile reaches $320,790. 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 Safety roles lead at $287,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $145,000. 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 (2,249 postings), Aws (1,224 postings), Azure (938 postings), Rag (915 postings), Gcp (660 postings), Pytorch (640 postings), Prompt Engineering (624 postings), Kubernetes (559 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
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