Senior Lead Research Scientist, Agentic AI at Upwork

This role is designed for an expert AI researcher who wants to balance high-level academic innovation with real-world production. You should have a PhD or an equivalent track record of peer-reviewed publications (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR) and deep technical expertise in Agentic AI. The ideal candidate is someone who can not only invent new algorithms for long-horizon reasoning and tool-use but also build the infrastructure—simulators, sandboxes, and RL pipelines—to deploy these agents at scale. A standout aspect of this position is the unique 50/50 split between research and engineering. You aren't just writing papers; you are implementing Reinforcement Learning from Execution Feedback (RLEF) and SFT/DPO pipelines to power a global talent marketplace. While the role is listed for Toronto, the description mentions a future international hub in Lisbon, suggesting a highly global and evolving organizational structure. **You might be a good fit if you...** * Have a PhD and a portfolio of published research focused on autonomous agents or LLM reasoning. * Are proficient in PyTorch/JAX and experienced in building research-grade tools that graduate into production APIs. * Expertly navigate alignment methods like RLHF, RLAIF, and reward modeling. * Enjoy mentoring senior engineers and leading cross-functional AI safety and benchmarking initiatives.