Mid Level Staff Research Scientist Jobs
Mid level staff research scientist jobs go to researchers ready to own studies end to end, guide junior colleagues, and shape experimental direction with minimal oversight. Roles run across Technology & Software, Artificial Intelligence, and Automotive, with a mix of on-site, hybrid, and remote settings, and employers like Scale AI, Google, and Plaid hiring at this level now.
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Showing 5 of 15+ Mid Level Staff Research Scientist jobs
Job Description
At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We’re turning today’s impossible into tomorrow’s standard — from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features. Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.
The Role
Are you ready to redefine mobility and shape the future of autonomous transportation? As a Staff Research Scientist specializing in Vision-Language Models (VLMs), Vision-Language-Action models (VLAs), and Onboard Foundational Models, you will advance the frontier of artificial intelligence to solve the most challenging problems in autonomous driving. In this role, you will bridge the gap between large-scale multimodal foundational AI and real-time physical systems. You will lead the design, training, and optimization of state-of-the-art models that allow vehicles to deeply understand complex visual scenes, reason through open-ended scenarios, and translate multimodal inputs directly into safe, actionable driving decisions. Crucially, your work will focus not just on cloud-scale intelligence, but on pioneering the techniques required to compress, quantize, and deploy these massive architectures directly onto resource-constrained onboard vehicle hardware. You will help shape strategic technical directions, mentor a world-class team of engineers, and represent our organization at top global artificial intelligence conferences.
What You’ll Do
- Research, design, and prototype advanced Vision-Language Models and Vision-Language-Action foundational models tailored for real-time semantic understanding and behavioral prediction in autonomous driving.
- Drive the technical strategy for onboard model optimization, leading initiatives in model quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation, and compilation to ensure high-parameter models execute with ultra-low latency on vehicle edge hardware.
- Advance multimodal alignment techniques, ensuring seamless integration of camera, radar, LiDAR, and textual/logical prompts into unified foundational architectures.
- Influence technical roadmaps and shape strategic machine learning priorities that align with safety requirements, core product milestones, and next-generation vehicle launches.
- Provide technical mentorship and long-term vision to a multidisciplinary group of machine learning engineers, software developers, and hardware specialists.
- Foster internal innovation by collaborating closely with perception, planning, and infrastructure teams to integrate foundational models into the core autonomous software stack.
- Represent the company externally to the global scientific community by publishing original research, securing patents, and presenting at top-tier artificial intelligence and robotics conferences.
Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)
- Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 5+ years of experience in AI/ML research and applied development.
- Deep expertise in modern ML architectures (transformers, generative AI, multimodal systems).
- Strong programming skills in Python.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring abilities, comfortable influencing technical strategy and guiding ML excellence across the organization.
What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)
- Demonstrated research impact in AI/ML technologies either through important publications in top conferences or demonstrated contribution to industry leading systems.
- AV/ADAS experience
Remote:
This role is based remotely but if you live within a 50-mile radius of Mountain View, you are expected to report to that location three times a week, at minimum.
Compensation:
The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The compensation may not be representative for positions located outside of New York, Colorado, California, or Washington.
- The salary range for this role is $218,800.00 to $335,300.00. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.
- Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.
Benefits:
- GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.
- This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.
- Company Vehicle: Upon successful completion of a motor vehicle report review, you will be eligible to participate in a company vehicle evaluation program, through which you will be assigned a General Motors vehicle to drive and evaluate. Note: program participants are required to purchase/lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years unless one of a limited number of exceptions applies.
About GM
Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.
Why Join Us
We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.
Benefits Overview
From day one, we're looking out for your well-being–at work and at home–so you can focus on realizing your ambitions. Learn how GM supports a rewarding career that rewards you personally by visiting Total Rewards resources.
Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)
General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers. All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws. We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.
Accommodations
General Motors offers opportunities to all job seekers including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, email us or call us at 1-800-865-7580. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.
Job Description
At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We’re turning today’s impossible into tomorrow’s standard — from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features. Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.
The Role
Are you ready to redefine mobility and shape the future of autonomous transportation? As a Staff Research Scientist specializing in Vision-Language Models (VLMs), Vision-Language-Action models (VLAs), and Onboard Foundational Models, you will advance the frontier of artificial intelligence to solve the most challenging problems in autonomous driving. In this role, you will bridge the gap between large-scale multimodal foundational AI and real-time physical systems. You will lead the design, training, and optimization of state-of-the-art models that allow vehicles to deeply understand complex visual scenes, reason through open-ended scenarios, and translate multimodal inputs directly into safe, actionable driving decisions. Crucially, your work will focus not just on cloud-scale intelligence, but on pioneering the techniques required to compress, quantize, and deploy these massive architectures directly onto resource-constrained onboard vehicle hardware. You will help shape strategic technical directions, mentor a world-class team of engineers, and represent our organization at top global artificial intelligence conferences.
What You’ll Do
- Research, design, and prototype advanced Vision-Language Models and Vision-Language-Action foundational models tailored for real-time semantic understanding and behavioral prediction in autonomous driving.
- Drive the technical strategy for onboard model optimization, leading initiatives in model quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation, and compilation to ensure high-parameter models execute with ultra-low latency on vehicle edge hardware.
- Advance multimodal alignment techniques, ensuring seamless integration of camera, radar, LiDAR, and textual/logical prompts into unified foundational architectures.
- Influence technical roadmaps and shape strategic machine learning priorities that align with safety requirements, core product milestones, and next-generation vehicle launches.
- Provide technical mentorship and long-term vision to a multidisciplinary group of machine learning engineers, software developers, and hardware specialists.
- Foster internal innovation by collaborating closely with perception, planning, and infrastructure teams to integrate foundational models into the core autonomous software stack.
- Represent the company externally to the global scientific community by publishing original research, securing patents, and presenting at top-tier artificial intelligence and robotics conferences.
Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)
- Ph.D. in Machine Learning, Robotics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 5+ years of experience in AI/ML research and applied development.
- Deep expertise in modern ML architectures (transformers, generative AI, multimodal systems).
- Strong programming skills in Python.
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and mentoring abilities, comfortable influencing technical strategy and guiding ML excellence across the organization.
What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)
- Demonstrated research impact in AI/ML technologies either through important publications in top conferences or demonstrated contribution to industry leading systems.
- AV/ADAS experience
Remote:
This role is based remotely but if you live within a 50-mile radius of Mountain View, you are expected to report to that location three times a week, at minimum.
Compensation:
The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The compensation may not be representative for positions located outside of New York, Colorado, California, or Washington.
- The salary range for this role is $218,800.00 to $335,300.00. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.
- Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.
Benefits:
- GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.
- This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.
- Company Vehicle: Upon successful completion of a motor vehicle report review, you will be eligible to participate in a company vehicle evaluation program, through which you will be assigned a General Motors vehicle to drive and evaluate. Note: program participants are required to purchase/lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years unless one of a limited number of exceptions applies.
About GM
Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.
Why Join Us
We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.
Benefits Overview
From day one, we're looking out for your well-being–at work and at home–so you can focus on realizing your ambitions. Learn how GM supports a rewarding career that rewards you personally by visiting Total Rewards resources.
Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)
General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers. All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws. We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.
Accommodations
General Motors offers opportunities to all job seekers including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment, email us or call us at 1-800-865-7580. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.
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Mid Level Staff Research Scientist Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a mid level staff research scientist job?
Position your existing work around ownership, not just contribution. Hiring managers at this level want to see that you led a study, drove a methodology decision, or delivered findings that informed a real product or policy outcome. Tailor your application to show independent judgment, name the specific research domains you have depth in, and highlight any cross-functional collaboration you led.
Which companies hire mid level staff research scientists?
Companies hiring mid level staff research scientists right now include Scale AI, Google, and Plaid, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Hiring at this level covers large technology firms, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic medical centers, and mission-driven research organizations that need scientists who can run projects independently.
Are there remote mid level staff research scientist jobs?
Yes, though availability varies by research type. About 15% of mid level staff research scientist openings are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, with computational, data-intensive, and policy-focused roles offering the most flexibility. Lab-based and clinical research positions tend to require on-site presence for equipment access and participant work.
How do I move up to a mid level staff research scientist role?
The path from entry level into a mid level staff research scientist role is built over several years of progressively independent work. Focus on taking on full ownership of a research question, not just executing tasks assigned by others. Developing a recognized area of technical depth, publishing or presenting findings, and demonstrating that your work influenced decisions or shaped a research agenda are the markers hiring teams look for when promoting or hiring into this tier.
Which industries hire the most mid level staff research scientists?
Mid Level staff research scientist roles concentrate in Technology & Software, Artificial Intelligence, and Automotive, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. These sectors drive hiring at this level because they sustain large research pipelines that require scientists experienced enough to run studies autonomously but still focused on hands-on investigation rather than team management.