Principal – Applied Scientist

Principal – Applied Scientist

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience building and deploying machine learning models at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, high-ambiguity ML projects from research to production.
• Masters + At least two peer-reviewed publications in deep learning, NLP, or a related AI domain or a PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Strong foundation in deep learning, NLP, generative AI, and causal inference.
• Proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, LangChain, Llama Index).
• Experience with distributed computing, cloud ML platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), and real-time AI inference.

Responsibilities

• Set the vision for applied ML research and AI-driven decision-making across Viant’s products and services.
• Conduct advanced research in NLP, RL, LLMs, and deep learning, publishing in top-tier conferences while applying findings to real-world production systems.
• Develop, optimize, and deploy high-throughput, low-latency ML models, collaborating with engineers to bring solutions into production.
• Explore novel AI techniques, such as LLMs, reinforcement learning, and causal inference, to enhance targeting, personalization, and attribution models.
• Design, run, and analyze A/B experiments to test ML-driven strategies, ensuring data-driven decision-making.
• Provide technical leadership for a team of applied scientists and ML engineers, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.

Preferred Qualifications

• Publications at top-tier ML/NLP conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, AAAI).
• Experience in digital advertising, real-time bidding, or audience modeling.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and multimodal AI applications.
• Strong background in reinforcement learning, dynamic pricing, or recommendation systems.