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About This Role
Rockwell Automation is a global technology leader focused on helping the world’s manufacturers be more productive, sustainable, and agile. With more than 28,000 employees who make the world better every day, we know we have something special. Behind our customers - amazing companies that help feed the world, provide life-saving medicine on a global scale, and focus on clean water and green mobility - our people are energized problem solvers that take pride in how the work we do changes the world for the better.
We welcome all makers, forward thinkers, and problem solvers who are looking for a place to do their best work. And if that’s you we would love to have you join us!
Job Description
Job Description
We are looking for a inventive AI engineer/scientist to help build the next generation of AI-native industrial automation systems powered by latest edge compute platforms.
You will focus on developing intelligent systems capable of real-time learning, reasoning, optimization, and autonomous operation. These systems operate directly within industrial environments, bringing advanced AI capabilities closer to machines, processes, and operational decision making. You will work at the convergence of edge AI, industrial automation, autonomous systems, embedded intelligence, and real-time operational analytics to help define how you design and operate future industrial systems.
This role focuses on redefining industrial automation through AI-native system design. The company embeds intelligence directly at the edge, making it capable of learning, adapting, and operating autonomously in real-world environments. You will work on frontier challenges involving real-time AI, autonomous operation, optimization, and industrial-scale deployment while helping shape the future of intelligent industrial infrastructure.
You will report to the Director AI and have a hybrid work schedule, working from Austin, TX
Responsibilities
- Develop AI-native industrial systems capable of: + Real-time reasoning and decision making + Adaptive process optimization + Autonomous operational behaviors + Continuous learning from operational data + Intelligent coordination across distributed industrial assets
- Design and deploy AI solutions on latest edge compute platforms with advanced CPU/GPU acceleration capabilities
- Build architectures that combine: + Generative AI and small language models + Machine learning and reinforcement learning + Optimization and control systems + Streaming analytics and event-driven intelligence + Distributed and edge-native AI inference
- Ensure low-latency AI execution directly within industrial environments while balancing performance, reliability, and operational constraints
- Integrate AI capabilities with industrial automation systems, robotics platforms, sensors, controllers, and operational infrastructure
Collaborate with diverse teams spanning AI research, controls engineering, embedded systems, and industrial operations *
The Essentials - You Will Have:
Bachelor's Degree in Relevant Field
*
The Preferred - You Might Also Have:
- Typically requires 5+ years relevant experience
- Background in the following: + Edge AI systems + Machine learning systems engineering + Autonomous systems + Industrial AI + Embedded or distributed AI architectures
- Experience developing and deploying AI applications in resource-constrained or real-time environments
- Software engineering skills in Python and modern AI/ML frameworks
- Familiarity with: + Edge inference optimization + GPU-accelerated computing + Streaming and real-time systems + Distributed AI architectures + Control and optimization systems
- Bridge advanced AI concepts with practical deployment in operational environments
Curiosity, creativity, and a passion for building intelligent systems that interact directly with the physical world *
Bonus Experience
- Industrial automation or control systems
- Robotics and autonomous platforms
- Reinforcement learning or adaptive control
- Time-series analytics and anomaly detection
- Embedded systems and edge deployment toolchains
- Digital twins and simulation environments
- Vision-language or multimodal AI systems
Cyber-physical systems and operational technology (OT) *
What We Offer
- Health Insurance including Medical, Dental and Vision
- 401k
- Paid Time off
- Parental and Caregiver Leave
- Flexible Work Schedule where you will work with your manager to enjoy a work schedule that can be flexible with your personal life.
To learn more about our benefits package, please visit at www.raquickfind.com . *
This position is part of a job family. Experience will be the determining factor for position level and compensation
At Rockwell Automation we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right person for this or other roles.
#LI-PD1
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We are an Equal Opportunity Employer including disability and veterans.
If you are an individual with a disability and you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact our services team at +1 (844) 404-7247.
Rockwell Automation’s hybrid policy aligns that employees are expected to work at a Rockwell location at least Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays unless they have a business obligation out of the office.
Role Details
About This Role
Research Scientists push the boundaries of what AI can do. They design experiments, develop novel architectures, publish papers, and translate research breakthroughs into production capabilities. This is where the fundamental advances happen, from attention mechanisms to diffusion models to reasoning chains.
The work is intellectually demanding and often ambiguous. You might spend months on an approach that doesn't pan out. The best research scientists combine deep mathematical intuition with engineering pragmatism. They know when to go deep on theory and when to run experiments. They read papers voraciously and can spot incremental contributions from genuine breakthroughs.
Across the 8,943 AI roles we're tracking, Research Scientist positions make up 2% of the market. At Rockwell Automation, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: reading and discussing recent papers with your team, designing and running experiments on multi-GPU clusters, analyzing results and iterating on hypotheses, writing up findings for internal review or publication, and collaborating with engineering teams to productionize promising results. The ratio of thinking to coding is higher than in engineering roles.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
Skills Required
PhD strongly preferred for most roles. Deep expertise in a specific area (NLP, computer vision, reinforcement learning, multimodal) is expected. PyTorch is the standard. Publication track record matters. Strong mathematical foundations in linear algebra, probability, optimization, and information theory are assumed.
Beyond the fundamentals, companies value experience with large-scale distributed training, novel architecture design, and the ability to bridge theory and practice. Understanding of current frontier topics (reasoning, multimodal, long-context, alignment) is essential. Code quality matters more than many researchers expect. Labs want researchers who can implement their ideas cleanly.
Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
Compensation Benchmarks
Research Scientist roles pay a median of $222,200 based on 708 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $193,200.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,000.
Rockwell Automation AI Hiring
Rockwell Automation has 2 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Scientist. Positions span Milwaukee, WI, US, Austin, TX, US.
Location Context
AI roles in Austin pay a median of $207,800 across 271 tracked positions. That's 3% below the national median.
Career Path
Common paths into Research Scientist roles include PhD Student, Research Engineer, Postdoc.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Research Lead, Distinguished Scientist, VP of Research.
The PhD is the entry point for most paths. Choose your advisor and research area carefully since they'll define your first industry position. Publish consistently, contribute to open-source projects in your area, and build relationships at conferences. Industry research offers better compensation and compute resources than academia, but the pressure to show product impact is real.
What to Expect in Interviews
Research interviews are multi-stage: a research talk (present your best paper), technical deep-dives on your methodology, and often a 'research proposal' exercise where you design an experiment to test a hypothesis. Coding rounds test implementation ability alongside theoretical knowledge. Be prepared to implement a paper from scratch and discuss the design choices the authors made. Strong candidates can critique papers constructively and identify gaps in experimental methodology.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 8,943 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 175 entry-level, 4,132 mid-level, 3,268 senior, and 1,368 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (521 positions). The remaining 8,351 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 roles).
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 8,943 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (6,739), AI Product Manager (403), AI Software Engineer (402). 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 (175) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,132) and senior (3,268) 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 1,368 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (521 positions), with 8,351 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 $213,380. Top-quartile roles start at $264,148, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,310. 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 $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. 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 (1,422 postings), Aws (808 postings), Azure (638 postings), Rag (555 postings), Gcp (457 postings), Pytorch (433 postings), Claude (341 postings), Kubernetes (337 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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