Lead Applied Scientist, Search & Information Retrieval

Thomson Reuters

Lead Applied Scientist designing and deploying large-scale search and information retrieval systems for Thomson Reuters. Building cutting-edge retrieval architectures to support legal, tax, and enterprise content.

Posted 7/20/2026full-timeRemote • New York • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $147,600 - $274,200 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in designing and developing large-scale search and information retrieval systems, with a strong focus on ranking, re-ranking, and retrieval optimization. Proficient in leveraging advanced AI and machine learning techniques to enhance search quality and user outcomes.

Highest-signal resume keywords

PhD In Computer ScienceProduction Python SkillsSearch Engine ArchitectureInformation RetrievalRanking And Re-Ranking Systems

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Information RetrievalRanking And Re-Ranking SystemsQuery UnderstandingRelevance OptimizationSemantic RetrievalHybrid RetrievalVector Search ArchitecturesEnd-To-End MeasurementEvaluation MethodologiesIngestion Pipelines

Soft Skills

MentoringTechnical Leadership

Tools & Technologies

PyTorchHugging Face Transformers

Industry Keywords

Large-Scale SearchRetrieval OptimizationSearch InfrastructureAI StrategyPublications At SIGIR

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

PythonPyTorch

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own the design, development, and production deployment of large-scale search and information retrieval systems
Work across retrieval architectures, indexing pipelines, ranking and re-ranking systems, semantic retrieval, hybrid search, and retrieval optimization
Build and optimize ingestion pipelines that analyze, enrich, and prepare documents for retrieval
Develop ranking and re-ranking systems using both traditional IR techniques and modern LLM-based approaches
Improve retrieval quality through semantic retrieval, hybrid retrieval, query understanding, and relevance optimization
Design evaluation frameworks for retrieval performance, relevance, ranking quality, and end-user outcomes
Lead technical decisions around indexing strategies, retrieval architectures, ranking models, and search infrastructure
Partner with engineering teams to deliver scalable, reliable, and performant search services
Contribute to the development of self-service search platform capabilities used by internal product teams
Provide technical input to senior leadership on search, retrieval, and AI strategy
Mentor applied scientists and machine learning practitioners across the organization

Requirements

What you’ll need

PhD in Computer Science, Information Retrieval, AI, Machine Learning, NLP, or a related field preferred
8+ years of industry experience building production search, information retrieval, ranking, or recommendation systems
Publications at SIGIR, ACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICLR, KDD, WWW, or equivalent venues
Strong production Python skills and experience with PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, and distributed model development
Hands-on production depth required in: Search engine architecture, indexing systems, and ingestion pipelines
Ranking and re-ranking systems rather than solely consuming search technologies
Information retrieval, semantic retrieval, hybrid retrieval, and vector search architectures
Query understanding, relevance optimization, and search evaluation methodologies
Retrieval systems supporting large collections of text-rich content
LLM-enhanced retrieval, RAG architectures, and retrieval optimization
End-to-end measurement and evaluation of search quality and user outcomes

Benefits

Comp & perks

Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities
Flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year
Comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation
Two company-wide Mental Health Days off
Access to the Headspace app
Retirement savings
Tuition reimbursement
Employee incentive programs
Resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing
Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute
Two paid volunteer days off annually
Opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives
Comprehensive health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance programs
Competitive 401k plan with company match
Market leading work life benefits with competitive vacation, sick and safe paid time off, paid holidays
Parental leave
Sabbatical leave
Optional hospital, accident and sickness insurance paid 100% by the employee
Optional life and AD&D insurance paid 100% by the employee
Flexible Spending and Health Savings Accounts
Fitness reimbursement
Access to Employee Assistance Program
Group Legal Identity Theft Protection benefit paid 100% by employee
Access to 529 Plan
Commuter benefits
Adoption & Surrogacy Assistance
Tuition Reimbursement
Access to Employee Stock Purchase Plan