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About This Role
Our vision is to transform how the world uses information to enrich life for *all* .
Micron Technology is a world leader in innovating memory and storage solutions that accelerate the transformation of information into intelligence, inspiring the world to learn, communicate and advance faster than ever.
Micron Technology is a global leader in memory and storage solutions that transform how the world uses information to enrich life for all. As Artificial Intelligence reshapes industries and the future of work, Micron is investing in innovative technologies that enhance productivity, accelerate decision making, and unlock new business opportunities across the enterprise.
Micron is seeking exceptional Master's and PhD graduates to join our AI Innovation team as an AI Innovation Research Engineer . This role is designed for highly curious, technically strong, and business\-minded individuals who are passionate about applying emerging AI technologies to solve real\-world challenges. The AI Innovation Research Engineer will find opportunities where AI can create business value, evaluate emerging technologies, develop proof\-of\-concept solutions, and help shape the future of AI\-enabled work at Micron. Working directly with senior technology and business leaders, this role offers a unique opportunity to influence enterprise\-wide innovation initiatives and contribute to the adoption of next\-generation AI capabilities.
This role provides a unique opportunity to work directly with executive leadership and contribute to enterprise\-scale AI innovation initiatives. As part of Micron's AI transformation journey, you will help discover the next generation of AI capabilities, solve meaningful business problems, and influence how thousands of employees leverage AI to work smarter and innovate faster.
Responsibilities
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- AI Opportunity Discovery: Identify opportunities across EIS and the broader enterprise where AI can improve productivity, efficiency, employee experience, decision making, or operational effectiveness. Analyze business processes, workflows, and technology challenges to uncover innovative AI use cases.
Partner with stakeholders to understand problems and translate them into AI\-enabled solution concepts.
- Research \& Innovation : Evaluate emerging AI technologies, models, frameworks, and platforms. Research industry trends and competitive developments in Artificial Intelligence. Explore innovative approaches using Generative AI, Agentic AI, machine learning, automation, and digital assistants. Conduct technical and business assessments of new technologies and solutions.
- Prototyping \& Experimentation: Design and develop proof\-of\-concept solutions that demonstrate business value. Build prototypes using modern AI tools and platforms. Perform experiments to validate technical feasibility and expected outcomes. Document findings, recommendations, and business impact.
- Business Value Analysis: Develop business cases for potential AI initiatives Quantify expected benefits, productivity gains, efficiencies, and return on investment. Define success measures and evaluate pilot outcomes. Present recommendations to technical and executive stakeholders.
- Collaboration \& Thought Leadership: Work closely with technology, security, infrastructure, and business teams. Participate in innovation workshops and ideation sessions. Contribute to Micron's culture of experimentation, innovation, and continuous learning. Share insights and recommendations on emerging AI capabilities and trends.
- What Success Looks Like: Identify high\-impact AI opportunities that align with business priorities. Develop innovative prototypes and proofs of concept. Generate measurable productivity or operational improvements. Contribute to Micron's AI innovation pipeline. Influence AI adoption through creativity, research, and technical expertise. Help establish Micron as a leader in AI\-enabled enterprise transformation.
Minimum Qualifications
- Recent Master's or PhD in: Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Human\-Computer Interaction, Information Systems, Engineering or related technical fields.
- Strong understanding of Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI Agents, Machine Learning, or Data Analytics.
- Experience through research, coursework, internships, or projects applying AI technologies.
- Programming experience in Python or similar languages.
- Strong analytical, problem\-solving, and communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
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- Research experience in Generative AI, Machine Learning, Agentic AI, NLP, Human\-AI Interaction, or Intelligent Systems.
- Experience with Microsoft Copilot, Azure AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI, or equivalent technologies.
- Publications, patents, open\-source contributions, or thesis work related to AI.
- Experience developing prototypes, applications, or AI\-powered solutions.
- Strong presentation and storytelling skills.
The US base salary range that Micron Technology estimates it could pay for this full\-time position is:
$113,000\.00 \- $242,000\.00 a year
Additional compensation may include benefits, bonuses and equity.
Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target base pay for new hire salaries of the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional job\-related factors, including knowledge, skills, experience, tenure and relevant education or training. The pay scale is subject to change depending on business needs. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.
Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.
As a world leader in the semiconductor industry, Micron is dedicated to your personal wellbeing and professional growth. Micron benefits are designed to help you stay well, provide peace of mind and help you prepare for the future. We offer a choice of medical, dental and vision plans in all locations enabling team members to select the plans that best meet their family healthcare needs and budget. Micron also provides benefit programs that help protect your income if you are unable to work due to illness or injury, and paid family leave. Additionally, Micron benefits include a robust paid time\-off program and paid holidays. For additional information regarding the Benefit programs available, please see the Benefits Guide posted on micron.com/careers/benefits .
Micron is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.
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To learn more about Micron, please visit micron.com/careers
US Sites Only: To request assistance with the application process and/or for reasonable accommodations, please contact Micron’s People Organization at hrsupport\[email protected] or 1\-800\-336\-8918 (select option \#3\)
Micron Prohibits the use of child labor and complies with all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and other international and industry labor standards.
Micron does not charge candidates any recruitment fees or unlawfully collect any other payment from candidates as consideration for their employment with Micron.
AI alert : Candidates are encouraged to use AI tools to enhance their resume and/or application materials. However, all information provided must be accurate and reflect the candidate's true skills and experiences. Misuse of AI to fabricate or misrepresent qualifications will result in immediate disqualification.
Fraud alert: Micron advises job seekers to be cautious of unsolicited job offers and to verify the authenticity of any communication claiming to be from Micron by checking the official Micron careers website in the About Micron Technology, Inc.
Salary Context
This $113K-$242K range is below the median 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 Micron Technology, 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 ($177K) sits 35% below the category median. Disclosed range: $113K to $242K.
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.
Micron Technology AI Hiring
Micron Technology has 8 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Engineer. Positions span Boise, ID, US, San Jose, CA, US, Richardson, TX, US. Compensation range: $192K - $309K.
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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