Research Scientist Intern, World-Model Aware Perception & Communication (PhD)

About the Role

The Meta Reality Labs Research Team brings together a world-class team of researchers, developers, and engineers to create the future of AR and VR. The Surreal group at RL Research is looking for emerging scientists and researchers with interest in novel computational and communications systems. Our goal is to perform cutting-edge research leading to foundational technologies that will underpin Meta’s future contextual AI. We welcome PhD students across computer science, electrical engineering, computer engineering, applied physics, and related disciplines. Our internships are twelve (12) to sixteen (16), or twenty-four (24) weeks long, with various start dates throughout the year.

Responsibilities

• Create novel systems and components for semantic compression and communication systems that are efficient and achieve high performance through a combination of algorithms and machine learning.
• Significantly advance the state of the art for end-to-end approaches along the full compression/communications and machine learning pipeline (including sensor captures, wireless transmission, latent representation, neural encoding, and decoding).
• Rapidly design, develop, prototype, execute, and analyze the above systems and components for contextual AI systems for future devices.
• Collaborate with other researchers across various disciplines in a highly cross-functional and interdisciplinary team.

Requirements

• Demonstrated research experience in Compression, Communications, Computer Vision, Digital Twin, World Model, or Machine Learning.
• 2+ years of experience using Python or C++ for Machine Learning and Computer Vision.
• Must obtain work authorization in the country of employment at the time of hire and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment.

Qualifications

• Broad understanding of communications theory and systems—from conventional modulation, coding, beamforming, to more recent digital twin and neural network-based approaches.
• Good understanding of the end-to-end pipeline for semantic communication systems, including source coding, semantic feature extraction, channel coding, and high-level neural network-based end-to-end approaches, wireless digital twin, or world model.
• Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as publications at leading workshops, conferences, or journals.
• Demonstrated experience with software, end-to-end system models, or communication systems via internships, work experience, coding competitions, or widely used contributions in open-source repositories (e.g., GitHub).
• Experience solving complex problems and comparing alternative solutions, tradeoffs, and diverse points of view to determine a path forward.
• Experience working and communicating cross-functionally in a team environment.

Pay

$7,650/month to $12,667/month + benefits. Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only and do not include bonus, equity, or sales incentives, if applicable.

About Meta

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.