AI Research Engineer Jobs in San Jose, CA
AI Research Engineer jobs in San Jose are in high demand, concentrated in North San Jose, Downtown, and the Alviso technology corridor, across semiconductor, enterprise software, and AI infrastructure sectors. Employers actively hiring include ByteDance, TikTok, and Honda Research Institute USA. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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- Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
- Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
- Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
- Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
- Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
- Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
- Holidays: 13 paid days per year
Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Kirkland, WA, USA; New York, NY, USA; San Jose, CA, USA.
Minimum qualifications:
- PhD degree in Economics, Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
- 2 years of experience leading a research agenda.
- One or more publications in an economics or AI journal or conference (such as the ICSE or FSE).
Preferred qualifications:
- Applied experience with NLP/LLM frameworks (e.g., embeddings, text classification, prompt engineering, fine-tuning/distillation) applied to quantitative research or social science problems.
- Demonstrated proficiency in Python and standard scientific computing/ML libraries (pandas, NumPy, PyTorch/JAX, scikit-learn, statsmodels).
- Deep theoretical and practical expertise in causal inference, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and econometrics.
- Track record of developing ML solutions for real world problems.
About the job
As an organization, Google maintains a portfolio of research projects driven by fundamental research, new product innovation, product contribution and infrastructure goals, while providing individuals and teams the freedom to emphasize specific types of work. As a Research Scientist, you'll setup large-scale tests and deploy promising ideas quickly and broadly, managing deadlines and deliverables while applying the latest theories to develop new and improved products, processes, or technologies. From creating experiments and prototyping implementations to designing new architectures, our research scientists work on real-world problems that span the breadth of computer science, such as machine (and deep) learning, data mining, natural language processing, hardware and software performance analysis, improving compilers for mobile platforms, as well as core search and much more.
As a Research Scientist, you'll also actively contribute to the wider research community by sharing and publishing your findings, with ideas inspired by internal projects as well as from collaborations with research programs at partner universities and technical institutes all over the world.
Our team works across all of Google to architect the foundational intelligence layer for Google's agentic ecosystem, engineering the data, insights, and feedback loops that empower developers and autonomous agents. Our work powers product decisions within our organization and helps Google to understand the impact of AI on the socio-technical systems that drive our business.
We value technical curiosity, collaborative visioning, and a bias toward action that celebrates fast failures that lead to clear learnings.
US: $174000 - $252000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Take nebulous socio-technical AI impact questions and turn them into concrete, validated, measurement strategies. Scale research strategies through Data Science and UXR partnerships.
- Apply causal frameworks (e.g., difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, synthetic controls, quasi-experiments) to understand AI impact from observational and behavioral data.
- Advise Product areas and Product teams on data driven system improvements e.g., how to better utilize AI in the software development lifecycle, how to improve product strategy to meet new development approaches, etc.
- Mentor junior quantitative researchers and data scientists, establishing best practices for statistical inference, study design, and empirical reproducibility.
- Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
- Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
- Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
- Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
- Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
- Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
- Holidays: 13 paid days per year
Note: By applying to this position you will have an opportunity to share your preferred working location from the following: Kirkland, WA, USA; New York, NY, USA; San Jose, CA, USA.
Minimum qualifications:
- PhD degree in Economics, Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
- 2 years of experience leading a research agenda.
- One or more publications in an economics or AI journal or conference (such as the ICSE or FSE).
Preferred qualifications:
- Applied experience with NLP/LLM frameworks (e.g., embeddings, text classification, prompt engineering, fine-tuning/distillation) applied to quantitative research or social science problems.
- Demonstrated proficiency in Python and standard scientific computing/ML libraries (pandas, NumPy, PyTorch/JAX, scikit-learn, statsmodels).
- Deep theoretical and practical expertise in causal inference, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and econometrics.
- Track record of developing ML solutions for real world problems.
About the job
As an organization, Google maintains a portfolio of research projects driven by fundamental research, new product innovation, product contribution and infrastructure goals, while providing individuals and teams the freedom to emphasize specific types of work. As a Research Scientist, you'll setup large-scale tests and deploy promising ideas quickly and broadly, managing deadlines and deliverables while applying the latest theories to develop new and improved products, processes, or technologies. From creating experiments and prototyping implementations to designing new architectures, our research scientists work on real-world problems that span the breadth of computer science, such as machine (and deep) learning, data mining, natural language processing, hardware and software performance analysis, improving compilers for mobile platforms, as well as core search and much more.
As a Research Scientist, you'll also actively contribute to the wider research community by sharing and publishing your findings, with ideas inspired by internal projects as well as from collaborations with research programs at partner universities and technical institutes all over the world.
Our team works across all of Google to architect the foundational intelligence layer for Google's agentic ecosystem, engineering the data, insights, and feedback loops that empower developers and autonomous agents. Our work powers product decisions within our organization and helps Google to understand the impact of AI on the socio-technical systems that drive our business.
We value technical curiosity, collaborative visioning, and a bias toward action that celebrates fast failures that lead to clear learnings.
US: $174000 - $252000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Take nebulous socio-technical AI impact questions and turn them into concrete, validated, measurement strategies. Scale research strategies through Data Science and UXR partnerships.
- Apply causal frameworks (e.g., difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, synthetic controls, quasi-experiments) to understand AI impact from observational and behavioral data.
- Advise Product areas and Product teams on data driven system improvements e.g., how to better utilize AI in the software development lifecycle, how to improve product strategy to meet new development approaches, etc.
- Mentor junior quantitative researchers and data scientists, establishing best practices for statistical inference, study design, and empirical reproducibility.
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Find AI Research Engineer JobsAI Research Engineer Job Market in San Jose
Who's Hiring
- ByteDance92
- TikTok49
- Honda Research Institute USA14
- Adobe7
- Hume AI7
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software28
- Science & Research11
- Automotive7
AI Research Engineer Jobs in San Jose: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a ai research engineer job in San Jose?
The strongest path into San Jose's ai research engineer market runs through the North San Jose and Alviso tech corridors, where semiconductor firms, AI platform companies, and enterprise software vendors concentrate most of their research headcount. Candidates who demonstrate hands-on experience with large language models, reinforcement learning, or hardware-software co-design stand out locally. Targeting mid-size AI infrastructure startups alongside the large tech campuses broadens your options considerably.
Which companies hire ai research engineers in San Jose?
Companies currently hiring ai research engineers in San Jose include ByteDance, TikTok, and Honda Research Institute USA, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. San Jose's employer mix leans heavily toward semiconductor giants, AI chip designers, and enterprise cloud platforms with significant on-site research operations.
Are there remote ai research engineer jobs in San Jose?
Yes, though roles involving hardware experimentation or lab-based model training remain predominantly on-site. About 17% of ai research engineer openings tied to San Jose are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, with flexibility most common for roles focused on algorithm development, data pipeline work, and theoretical research.
How can I get a ai research engineer job in San Jose with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a research internship or associate researcher role at one of San Jose's semiconductor or AI infrastructure companies, which regularly recruit from graduate programs. Contributing to open-source AI projects and publishing even one technical paper signals research readiness to local hiring teams. Roles like machine learning engineer or data scientist at smaller San Jose AI startups also serve as effective lateral moves into dedicated research positions.
Which industries hire the most ai research engineers in San Jose?
San Jose ai research engineer roles concentrate in Technology & Software, Science & Research, and Automotive, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. San Jose's deep roots in chip design and enterprise cloud infrastructure make those sectors the primary engine of local ai research engineer hiring.
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See All 208+ AI Research Engineer Jobs in San Jose
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