AI Research Director

webAI™

AI Research Director leading research initiatives in AI and ML at webAI. Overseeing research teams and driving innovation in distributed AI technologies.

Posted 4/16/2026full-timeAustin • Texas • 🇺🇸 United StatesLeadWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Distributed SystemsPythonPyTorchTensorflow

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead webAI’s AI and ML research strategy including long-term vision, experimentation roadmap, and architectural innovation
Oversee research on LLMs, diffusion and multimodal models, inference optimization, and distributed execution
Advance techniques for compression, quantization, distillation, and privacy-preserving learning for edge and on-device AI
Collaborate with Engineering and Product teams to translate research breakthroughs into scalable production-ready capabilities
Build, mentor, and lead a world-class research team fostering creativity, scientific rigor, and innovation
Evaluate emerging technologies, academic research, and industry trends to influence strategic direction
Design and evaluate experiments, benchmarks, and methodologies for model performance and efficiency
Represent webAI in research discussions with customers, partners, and the broader AI community
Ensure research initiatives align with customer missions, security requirements, and enterprise needs

Requirements

What you’ll need

8+ years of experience in AI, machine learning research, deep learning, or related fields
Experience leading research teams and delivering impactful ML innovations
Expertise in modern AI architectures including transformers, diffusion models, multimodal systems, and reinforcement learning
Experience designing, training, and optimizing large-scale ML models
Strong understanding of distributed systems, edge inference, and model efficiency techniques such as quantization and pruning
Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX
Strong research background demonstrated through publications, patents, or deployed innovations
Ability to communicate complex concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Benefits

Comp & perks

Competitive salary
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits package
401(k) match (U.S.-based employees only)
$200/month Health & Wellness stipend
Continuing Education support
$500/year Function Health subscription (U.S.-based employees only)
Free parking for in-office employees
Flexible Time Off (FTO)
Parental leave for eligible employees
Supplemental life insurance

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

AImachine learningdeep learningtransformersdiffusion modelsmultimodal systemsreinforcement learningmodel optimizationquantizationpruning

Soft Skills

leadershipmentoringcommunicationcreativityscientific rigorinnovationcollaborationstrategic thinkingproblem-solvingcustomer focus