# Research Scientist

**Company:** [AfterQuery](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/afterquery)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** AI Research
**Salary:** $250k – $450k/yr
**Skills:** llm training, llm evaluation, sft, rl, Model Evaluation, data quality analysis
**Posted:** 2026-07-07

> Research Scientist running controlled SFT and RL experiments to prove the impact of curated datasets on foundation model behavior, generalization, and alignment. Ideal for strong undergrad or master's researchers with deep obsession over data-driven model improvements.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Run controlled SFT and RL experiments to measure the impact of our datasets on model performance.
- Help build public evals and new data types that push the frontier.
- Publish external-facing research, blog posts, and technical reports.
- Work with internal SPLs to iterate on data quality based on your results.

## Requirements
- Strong familiarity with LLM training and evaluation methodologies.
- Genuine obsession with how data structure, selection, and quality drive model behavior.
- Ability to design lightweight experiments, move fast, and extract actionable insights from messy results.
- Comfort working across domains (finance, software engineering, policy, and more).
- A bias toward building over theorizing.
- Great candidates are undergrad research or master's research (but haven't done a PhD).

## Compensation
- Annual target cash compensation of $250-450K + meaningful equity.
- Comprehensive benefits (UberEats and ride share stipend, comped Equinox, 401K with match, health, dental, and vision insurance).

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