AI Research Scientist, Recursive Self Improvement, AI Safety and Reinforcement Learning - CA, Santa Clara, United States
$178,500 - $306,000 USD yearly
Originally posted 2 July 2026 by the employer.
About the role
AMD is hiring an AI Research Scientist focused on bounded recursive self-improvement (RSI), AI safety, and reinforcement learning where systems participate in improving their own training signals, curricula, or verification under explicit governance. You will design measurement and containment protocols so RSI pipelines remain auditable and safe across AMD's AI-for-HW and generative-AI programs.
What you'll do
- Research self-improving training loops including model-generated supervision, iterative distillation, self-critique, and automated curriculum updates with clear scope limits. - Develop theory- and systems-grounded evaluations for capability drift, Goodhart effects, and distributional shift in closed-loop training. - Partner with reinforcement learning scientists on intersections between RSI-style objectives, policy optimization, and preference learning. - Define red-team protocols and monitoring for RSI pilots, establishing documented rollback criteria before experiments touch shared infrastructure. - Publish research or produce internal technical reports aligned with responsible deployment standards.
What you'll need
- Background in machine learning (ML), AI safety, reinforcement learning, or a related field. - Experience with empirical safety evaluation, scalable oversight, or stress-testing of generative model training pipelines. - Software skills for building controlled experimental harnesses and reproducible RSI microcosms. - Experience in iterative training, self-training, or open-ended learning, demonstrated via publications or substantial work.
Nice to have
- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
Skills: AI Safety, Reinforcement Learning, recursive self-improvement, generative-AI, ML, training loops
This role has been open 111 days — well above the 83-day median for AI/ML Hardware Engineering roles.
AI/ML Hardware Engineering · AI ML Hardware
|
Open roles in category
511
|
Median days open
83 d
|
Median salary
$236k
|
See the full market breakdown ▾Category comparison, skills in demand, and who else is hiring
| Metric | AMD | All employers we track in this specialty (511 roles · 76 employers) |
|---|---|---|
| Open roles in this specialty | 38 | 511 |
| Open roles in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family | 406 | 6296 · 145 employers |
| Median days open | 95 d | 83 d (+12 d vs this employer) |
| Median salary (USD postings) | — | $236k |
Skills observed across this category: AI Safety, Reinforcement Learning, recursive self-improvement, generative-AI, ML, training loops
Who's hiring in this category
- Qualcomm · 103 open roles · median 112 d
- NVIDIA · 91 open roles · median 56 d
- AMD (this employer) · 40 open roles · median 85 d
- Micron Technology · 27 open roles · median 56 d
- Analog Devices · 18 open roles · median 39 d
- Mobileye · 18 open roles · median 84 d
How we counted: 511 open AI/ML Hardware Engineering (AI ML Hardware) roles from 76 employers tracked in the SemiconductorJobs index, counted 21 Oct 2026. Specialty figures count only roles carrying this exact specialty label, so an employer's related work in neighbouring specialties is not included there — it is counted in the wider Software, Firmware & Systems family row. Figures refresh nightly.