AI Research Engineer Jobs in New Jersey
AI Research Engineer jobs in New Jersey are in strong and growing demand, concentrated in pharmaceuticals, financial technology, defense technology, and enterprise software, with openings from early-career research positions through principal and staff engineer roles. The most active hiring is in Princeton, Newark, and Jersey City, where established employers like Johnson & Johnson, Cognizant, and Lockheed Martin maintain significant research and engineering operations. The most sought-after specializations include large language model development, computer vision, and applied machine learning for drug discovery and quantitative finance. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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As an Applied AI/ML Vice President within Global Private Bank, you will lead the design and build of agentic AI systems that execute reliable business workflows end-to-end. You will bring deep expertise in agent architectures—including memory, state, and context management; loop engineering; tool orchestration; and spec-driven development—to deliver safe, observable, and high-quality solutions. You will stay close to cutting-edge research, translating advances in LLMs, agent frameworks, reinforcement learning, knowledge graphs, retrieval, and self-improving systems into practical capabilities. You'll thrive in a highly collaborative environment, partnering with business, technologists, and control partners to shape requirements, controls, and success metrics..
Job Responsibilities:
- Develop advanced agentic AI solutions across NLP, speech analytics, time series, reinforcement learning, and recommendation systems.
- Design robust agent architectures combining LLM reasoning with tools, structured data, and APIs—spanning state, memory, and context management, plus loop engineering (plan/act/observe, verification, termination, and fallback/escalation).
- Engineer reliable agent-driven workflows emphasizing correctness, traceability, and control-aware behavior (guardrails, approvals, auditable decision paths).
- Build knowledge-centric reasoning layers, including knowledge graphs and hybrid retrieval (RAG + graph + structured sources) to improve grounding and accuracy.
- Drive specification-driven development: author specs and contracts (schemas, validators, tool/skill interfaces) and build evaluation/regression harnesses.
- Advance agent quality via recursive self-improvement through automated evaluation and critique loops, red-team feedback, skill/prompt instruction optimization, and outcome-driven dataset curation (human-in-the-loop as needed).
- Coach and mentor AIML team members, setting a high bar for engineering rigor and research depth.
Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills:
- PhD in a quantitative discipline (e.g., CS/EE/Math/OR/Optimization/Data Science) or equivalent industry/research experience (e.g., 3+ years with PhD-equivalent depth; or MS with 5+ years).
- Demonstrated expertise building agentic AI systems, including several of: memory/state/context management, tool orchestration and workflow reliability patterns, loop engineering, spec-driven development, and prompt/skill instruction optimization.
- Strong hands-on experience with ML/DL methods and toolkits (e.g., PyTorch/TensorFlow plus core Python data/ML stack).
- Ability to design experiments and evaluation frameworks with metrics aligned to business outcomes (quality, reliability, latency, cost, safety).
- Experience with scalable data and model workflows (training and/or inference) and strong software engineering practices.
- strong communication skills to explain technical concepts to both technical and business audiences.
Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills:
- Knowledge in search/ranking, reinforcement learning, or meta-learning (especially for agent routing, policies, and self-improvement).
- Experience with knowledge graphs, entity resolution, and ontology design.
Experience with A/B experimentation and metric-driven product development; CI pipelines and unit/integration testing.
We offer a competitive total rewards package including base salary determined based on the role, experience, skill set and location. Those in eligible roles may receive commission-based pay and/or discretionary incentive compensation, paid in the form of cash and/or forfeitable equity, awarded in recognition of individual achievements and contributions. We also offer a range of benefits and programs to meet employee needs, based on eligibility. These benefits include comprehensive health care coverage, on-site health and wellness centers, a retirement savings plan, backup childcare, tuition reimbursement, mental health support, financial coaching and more. Additional details about total compensation and benefits will be provided during the hiring process.
We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. We also make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as mental health or physical disability needs. Visit our FAQs for more information about requesting an accommodation.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Veterans
ABOUT THE TEAM
J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management delivers industry-leading investment management and private banking solutions. Asset Management provides individuals, advisors and institutions with strategies and expertise that span the full spectrum of asset classes through our global network of investment professionals. Wealth Management helps individuals, families and foundations take a more intentional approach to their wealth or finances to better define, focus and realize their goals.
As an Applied AI/ML Vice President within Global Private Bank, you will lead the design and build of agentic AI systems that execute reliable business workflows end-to-end. You will bring deep expertise in agent architectures—including memory, state, and context management; loop engineering; tool orchestration; and spec-driven development—to deliver safe, observable, and high-quality solutions. You will stay close to cutting-edge research, translating advances in LLMs, agent frameworks, reinforcement learning, knowledge graphs, retrieval, and self-improving systems into practical capabilities. You'll thrive in a highly collaborative environment, partnering with business, technologists, and control partners to shape requirements, controls, and success metrics..
Job Responsibilities:
- Develop advanced agentic AI solutions across NLP, speech analytics, time series, reinforcement learning, and recommendation systems.
- Design robust agent architectures combining LLM reasoning with tools, structured data, and APIs—spanning state, memory, and context management, plus loop engineering (plan/act/observe, verification, termination, and fallback/escalation).
- Engineer reliable agent-driven workflows emphasizing correctness, traceability, and control-aware behavior (guardrails, approvals, auditable decision paths).
- Build knowledge-centric reasoning layers, including knowledge graphs and hybrid retrieval (RAG + graph + structured sources) to improve grounding and accuracy.
- Drive specification-driven development: author specs and contracts (schemas, validators, tool/skill interfaces) and build evaluation/regression harnesses.
- Advance agent quality via recursive self-improvement through automated evaluation and critique loops, red-team feedback, skill/prompt instruction optimization, and outcome-driven dataset curation (human-in-the-loop as needed).
- Coach and mentor AIML team members, setting a high bar for engineering rigor and research depth.
Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills:
- PhD in a quantitative discipline (e.g., CS/EE/Math/OR/Optimization/Data Science) or equivalent industry/research experience (e.g., 3+ years with PhD-equivalent depth; or MS with 5+ years).
- Demonstrated expertise building agentic AI systems, including several of: memory/state/context management, tool orchestration and workflow reliability patterns, loop engineering, spec-driven development, and prompt/skill instruction optimization.
- Strong hands-on experience with ML/DL methods and toolkits (e.g., PyTorch/TensorFlow plus core Python data/ML stack).
- Ability to design experiments and evaluation frameworks with metrics aligned to business outcomes (quality, reliability, latency, cost, safety).
- Experience with scalable data and model workflows (training and/or inference) and strong software engineering practices.
- strong communication skills to explain technical concepts to both technical and business audiences.
Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills:
- Knowledge in search/ranking, reinforcement learning, or meta-learning (especially for agent routing, policies, and self-improvement).
- Experience with knowledge graphs, entity resolution, and ontology design.
Experience with A/B experimentation and metric-driven product development; CI pipelines and unit/integration testing.
We offer a competitive total rewards package including base salary determined based on the role, experience, skill set and location. Those in eligible roles may receive commission-based pay and/or discretionary incentive compensation, paid in the form of cash and/or forfeitable equity, awarded in recognition of individual achievements and contributions. We also offer a range of benefits and programs to meet employee needs, based on eligibility. These benefits include comprehensive health care coverage, on-site health and wellness centers, a retirement savings plan, backup childcare, tuition reimbursement, mental health support, financial coaching and more. Additional details about total compensation and benefits will be provided during the hiring process.
We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. We also make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as mental health or physical disability needs. Visit our FAQs for more information about requesting an accommodation.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Veterans
ABOUT THE TEAM
J.P. Morgan Asset & Wealth Management delivers industry-leading investment management and private banking solutions. Asset Management provides individuals, advisors and institutions with strategies and expertise that span the full spectrum of asset classes through our global network of investment professionals. Wealth Management helps individuals, families and foundations take a more intentional approach to their wealth or finances to better define, focus and realize their goals.
See All 16 AI Research Engineer Jobs in New Jersey
Find roles in New Jersey that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find AI Research Engineer JobsAI Research Engineer Jobs by City in New Jersey
Where New Jersey roles are concentrated, by current openings.
AI Research Engineer Job Market in New Jersey
A snapshot from current New Jersey openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Fintech
- Banking & Financial Services
- Investment & Asset Management
- Manufacturing
- Technology & Software
What New Jersey Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in AI research engineer jobs across New Jersey.
- Graduate degree in computer science, machine learning, or a related quantitative field required
- Demonstrated experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Published research or a strong portfolio of applied AI projects expected by most employers
- Proficiency in Python and familiarity with distributed computing or cloud platforms
- Experience translating research prototypes into production-grade systems or pipelines
- Strong written and verbal communication skills for cross-functional collaboration with product and engineering teams
AI Research Engineer Jobs in New Jersey: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become an ai research engineer in New Jersey?
Most New Jersey employers require at minimum a master's degree in computer science, machine learning, statistics, or a related field, with many research-focused roles preferring a doctorate. There is no state-issued license specific to this role in New Jersey. Candidates strengthen their candidacy through published research, open-source contributions, or a demonstrable portfolio of applied AI work, and by targeting the pharmaceutical, fintech, and defense technology sectors that anchor the state's AI hiring market.
How much do AI research engineers make in New Jersey?
AI research engineers in New Jersey earn a median of about $140,840 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $85,780 for the lowest 10% to over $209,850 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire ai research engineers in New Jersey?
Employers hiring ai research engineers in New Jersey right now include JPMorganChase, Versant, and Citi, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. New Jersey's concentration of pharmaceutical headquarters, financial technology firms, and defense contractors means AI research roles here frequently involve applied research in drug discovery, risk modeling, and autonomous systems.
Which New Jersey cities have the most ai research engineer jobs?
The cities with the most ai research engineer openings in New Jersey are Jersey City, Englewood Cliffs, and Princeton. Princeton draws heavily from its proximity to major pharmaceutical campuses and research universities, Newark and Jersey City benefit from their position in the New York metro corridor where financial technology and enterprise software firms concentrate, and suburban office parks throughout Morris and Somerset counties host longstanding corporate research centers that generate steady hiring.
Are there remote ai research engineer jobs in New Jersey?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 57% of ai research engineer openings tied to New Jersey are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting the desk-based and computationally driven nature of most research work. Fully remote arrangements are most common for roles focused on model development, experimentation, and data pipeline work, while positions requiring access to proprietary lab infrastructure or regulated data environments tend to require on-site presence.
How can I get hired as an ai research engineer in New Jersey with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a research internship or a rotational program at one of New Jersey's large pharmaceutical or technology employers, where new graduates move from research assistant or junior data scientist roles into dedicated AI research positions. Companies like Johnson & Johnson and Cognizant run structured early-career programs that recruit directly from university research labs. Building a public portfolio of reproducible experiments, contributing to open-source projects, and completing a graduate thesis with an applied AI focus all provide concrete evidence of capability that New Jersey hiring managers look for when experience is limited.
Where can I find and apply to ai research engineer jobs in New Jersey?
You can find and apply to ai research engineer jobs in New Jersey on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings across the state updated regularly. Search the listings for roles that match your background and experience level, then apply directly to the ones that fit. No sign-up is required to search or view the available positions.
See All 16 AI Research Engineer Jobs in New Jersey
Find roles in New Jersey that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find AI Research Engineer Jobs