Machine Learning Scientist, LLM Training & Inference Research

About the role

We’re building a talent-dense, high-agency research team to develop the next generation of learning systems and reasoning algorithms for agentic LLMs. Our work sits at the intersection of large language models, post-training, and scientific reasoning, with the goal of enabling systems that learn from experience, reason effectively, and improve through interaction.

Responsibilities

• Create and analyze long-running auto-research systems that propose and verify hypotheses
• Design planning frameworks for agentic systems operating over long, sparse feedback loops
• Design memory architectures that allow agents to build and retrieve structured knowledge over time
• Explore algorithms in recursive self-improvement, multi-agent coordination, and continual learning
• Develop distillation strategies from large or ensemble models into deployable systems
• Research methods for self-improvement, including iterative self-distillation and critique loops
• Investigate how to preserve generalization and reduce catastrophic forgetting through the distillation process
• Design and benchmark inference-time search, sampling, and verification strategies
• Propose new techniques in synthetic environment creation and curriculum learning
• Develop synthetic data generation strategies that capture high-quality scientific reasoning for agentic model training
• Measure the end-to-end impact of inference-time improvements on real scientific tasks

Requirements

• An advanced degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related field, or comparable experience
• Strong foundation in LLMs and empirical research
• Experience designing and executing rigorous ML experiments, including benchmarking and ablations
• Experience working with large-scale training or evaluation pipelines
• Ability to define and pursue research directions in open-ended, rapidly evolving spaces
• Strong collaboration and communication skills across research and engineering teams

Bonus points for

• Experience with synthetic data generation, distillation, or self-improvement loops
• Familiarity with reinforcement learning (e.g., RLHF, on-policy methods)
• Experience with planning, search, or decision-making systems at scale
• Experience in building agentic systems with tool use, or multi-agent workflows
• Background in program synthesis, coding benchmarks, or long-horizon tasks
• Experience building evaluation frameworks or large-scale benchmarks

Scientific rigor & persistence

• You take a principled approach to experimentation, with careful baselines, ablations, and evaluation design
• You are motivated by understanding why systems work, not just improving metrics
• You prioritize clarity, reproducibility, and intellectual honesty in research
• You are comfortable working through long, nonlinear iteration cycles
• You operate effectively in ambiguous, fast-evolving research environments

Compensation

We offer competitive base compensation with bonus potential and generous early-stage equity. Your final offer will reflect your background, expertise, and expected impact.

Benefits

• U.S. Benefits. Full-time U.S. employees receive a comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental, and vision coverage; employer-paid life and disability insurance; flexible time off with generous company wide holidays; paid parental leave; an educational assistance program; commuter benefits, including bike share memberships for office based employees; and a company subsidized lunch program.
• International Benefits. Full-time employees outside the U.S. receive a comprehensive benefits program tailored to their region. USD salary ranges apply only to U.S.-based positions; international salaries are set to local market.

Expected Base Salary Range

$176,000 - $304,000 USD

About LILA

Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.

Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance.

A Note to Agencies

Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.