AI Research Manager/Scientist, Reinforcement Learning

Job Requisition ID #26WD94883Position OverviewAs an AI Scientist Manager Reinforcement Learning at Autodesk Research, you will be doing fundamental and applied research that will help our customers imagine, design, and make a better world. We are seeking an AI Scientist Manager to lead our post-training and model alignment efforts. This role sits at the critical intersection of advanced AI research, people leadership, and model readiness. You will both manage and grow a team of AI scientists and personally contribute as a hands-on researcher, owning the transformation of foundation models into reliable, aligned, and production-ready systems. This is not a purely managerial role. You will remain deeply technical while setting direction, making trade-offs, and taking accountability for model behavior at release.Autodesk's AI Lab is active in the wider research community, targeting publications at CVPR, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, SIGGRAPH, and other top-tier conferences. We collaborate with top academic & industry labs, combining the best of an academic environment with product-guided research. We are a global team, located in London, San Francisco, Toronto, and remotely in the US, Canada, and Europe.This role will report to Senior Director of AI Research in the AI Lab.Key ResponsibilitiesTechnical Leadership & Hands-On ResearchLead and contribute directly to post-training pipelines, including:Instruction tuning and multi-task fine-tuningPreference optimization (RLHF, RLAIF, DPO, PPO, and related methods)Domain-specific post-training and specialization for the AECO, Manufacturing, and Media & Entertainment industriesDesign and run experiments that shape model behavior, robustness, and reliabilityDecide what problems are best addressed through post-training vs pre-training vs product-level mitigationPartner with infrastructure teams to ensure efficient, reproducible, and scalable post-training workflowsEvaluation, Alignment & Model QualityDesign and maintain evaluation frameworks that measure:Long-horizon reasoning and planningTool-use and agentic behaviorSafety, robustness, and alignmentRegression and behavioral drift across releasesLead human-in-the-loop evaluation, ensuring annotation quality, consistency, and bias awarenessProvide clear go / no-go recommendations for model releases, including explicit articulation of known risks and trade-offsPeople Management & Team DevelopmentManage, mentor, and grow a team of AI scientists working on post-training and alignmentSet clear technical direction while empowering researchers to own end-to-end projectsHire and develop scientists with strengths across ML, RL, evaluation, and human-centered AIFoster a culture of:Rigorous experimentation and ablationReproducibility and scientific integrityThoughtful risk-taking and humility about model behaviorProvide regular feedback, career coaching, and performance managementCross-Functional & Organizational LeadershipAct as a key interface between:Pre-training researchInfrastructure and compute teamsModel Delivery teamSafety, policy, and legal stakeholdersTranslate complex research trade-offs into clear, decision-ready guidance for leadershipInfluence the broader AI roadmap by identifying post-training opportunities that unlock product impactQualificationsMinimum QualificationsPhD or equivalent industry experience in Machine Learning, AI, or a related fieldProven experience as a people manager of technical research or ML teamsStrong hands-on expertise in:Large language models or foundation modelsFine-tuning and post-training methods (e.g., RLHF, DPO, instruction tuning)Experimental design and evaluationAbility to move fluidly between research depth and organizational leadershipStrong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex trade-offs to technical and non-technical audiencesPreferred QualificationsExperience operating in an AI research lab or frontier model organizationBackground in human-in-the-loop systems, preference learning, or alignment researchExperience shipping or supporting production AI systemsFamiliarity with large-scale training infrastructure and compute cost trade-offsExperience in Architecture, Civil or Mechanical Engineering, Construction, Manufacturing, Media & Entertainment or other Autodesk domainsWhat Success Looks LikePost-trained models demonstrate measurable improvements in reliability, alignment, and usefulnessEvaluation metrics are trusted and adopted across teamsThe team consistently delivers high-quality research and practical impactLeadership relies on your judgment for model readiness and risk assessmentTeam members grow into strong, independent researchers and leadersLearn MoreAbout AutodeskWelcome to Autodesk! Amazing things are created every day with our software – from the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to the smartest factories and biggest hit movies. We help innovators turn their ideas into reality, transforming not only how things are made, but what can be made.We take great pride in our culture here at Autodesk – it’s at the core of everything we do. Our culture guides the way we work and treat each other, informs how we connect with customers and partners, and defines how we show up in the world.When you’re an Autodesker, you can do meaningful work that helps build a better world designed and made for all. Ready to shape the world and your future? Join us!BenefitsFrom health and financial benefits to time away and everyday wellness, we give Autodeskers the best, so they can do their best work. Learn more about our benefits in the U.S. by visiting https://benefits.autodesk.com/Salary transparencySalary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package. For U.S.-based roles, we expect a starting base salary between $192,600 and $344,850. Offers are based on the candidate’s experience and geographic location, and may exceed this range. In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package.Equal Employment Opportunity At Autodesk, we're building a diverse workplace and an inclusive culture to give more people the chance to imagine, design, and make a better world. Autodesk is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic. We also consider for employment all qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.Diversity & BelongingWe take pride in cultivating a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Learn more here: https://www.autodesk.com/company/diversity-and-belongingAre you an existing contractor or consultant with Autodesk? Please search for open jobs and apply internally (not on this external site).