Interested in this Research Engineer role at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?
Apply Now →About This Role
Job Summary:
The Research Engineer (or Sr. Research Engineer) helps drive applied research, prototyping, and technology translation in collaboration with industry partners of the Center for Smart Convergent Manufacturing Systems. This role bridges hands\-on engineering, data\-driven experimentation, and industrial problem solving, contributing to high\-impact projects and deployments.
Who we are:
Founded in 1824, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is the first technological research university in the United States. We bring creativity, science, and technology together to address society's greatest challenges. We cultivate exceptional problem\-solvers by immersing them in a culture of rigorous inquiry, disciplined practice, and hands\-on application. Our strategic plan, *RPI Forward,* charts a pioneering course for the next era of RPI. Explore the RPI Forward plan. ︎
Nestled on a beautiful 275\-acre campus in upstate NY, RPI is home to five schools, 32 research centers, three makerspaces, an observatory, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, and the IBM Quantum System One \- the first university\-based quantum computer in the world.
With top notch employee health and retirement benefits, Rensselaer offers its full\-time employees a generous paid time off program, tuition remission, and opportunities for career growth.
Minimum Qualifications:
Research Engineer:
- Master’s Degree in Engineering or related field
- One or more years related experience
Sr. Research Engineer:
- Master's Degree in Engineering or related field
- Two or more years experience in a closely comparable technical role
Relevant combinations of education, training and experience may be considered.
Minimum Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Computer literacy, including ability to use a variety of software packages to analyze data
- Ability to collect and record data using appropriate field specific systems, equipment and techniques
- Ability to analyze and interpret statistical data
- Ability to communicate in a clear, concise manner
- Ability to maintain accurate and detailed records
- Analytical reasoning and problem solving skills
- Ability to work under pressure and meet inflexible deadlines
- Knowledge of and ability to pay strict attention to research protocol
- Ability to remain calm and composted when dealing with difficult situations or people
Representative Job Duties:
- Identify, lead, and execute applied manufacturing research projects aligned with CSCMS strategic initiatives
- Identify funding opportunities in support of industry and academic partners that align with the Center’s strategic mission
- Develop and operate advanced manufacturing hardware, robotics, sensing, and automation platforms
- Translate industry needs into experimental plans, prototypes, and validated solutions
- Support industry\-sponsored research with planning, execution, documentation, and partner interactions
- Collaborate across disciplines with faculty, staff, and students to execute applied manufacturing research projects
- Contribute to proposals, reports, and knowledge transfer activities
- Maintain safety, lab standards, and best practices in research environments
Shift:
Business hours; Monday through Friday
Starting Salary/Rate:
- Research Engineer: $66,000 \- $86,000 / yr
- Sr. Research Engineer: $87,000 – $95,000 / yr
Placement at the Research Engineer or Sr. Research Engineer level will be based on documented qualifications and related experience as determined by the hiring team.
Pay transparency disclosure: The selected candidate’s salary will be determined based on factors that include the available budget, internal equity, and the final candidate’s qualifications, experience, education and other job\-related credentials. This hiring range is provided as Rensselaer’s good faith estimate of the expected hiring range at the time of posting.
Application instructions:
Follow the on\-screen prompts to create a brief online profile. Please be ready to upload your resume and cover letter.
If you need assistance with the online application process, please contact [email protected].
Job Posted Date:
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.
Total Compensation and Benefits Information:
Rensselaer’s Total Compensation Program is designed to provide stable pay growth, a comprehensive and affordable benefits package, and a comprehensive and affordable retiree medical and prescription plan. Our goal is to provide you and your family with a comprehensive health and welfare program as an umbrella of financial security and protection during your employment. For more information, please visit Benefits \| Human Resources (rpi.edu).
*Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is committed to the cultivation of a community that is welcoming, inclusive, and above all values learning. We welcome candidates who bring a variety of perspectives to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's work and campus communities. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute* *is an Equal Opportunity Employer.*
*All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or other characteristic protected by law.*
Salary Context
This $66K-$95K 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 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 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 in Demand for This Role
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. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $227,400. This role's midpoint ($80K) sits 70% below the category median. Disclosed range: $66K to $95K.
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.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AI Hiring
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across Research Engineer. Based in New York, NY, US. Compensation range: $95K - $95K.
Location Context
AI roles in New York pay a median of $220,000 across 1,650 tracked positions.
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
Get Weekly AI Career Intelligence
Salary data, skills demand, and market signals from 16,000+ AI job postings. Every Monday.