✦ Luna Orbit — AI & Machine Learning

Applied Researcher I (AI Foundations, LLM Customization, Finetuning, Reinforcement Learning)

at Discover Financial Services

📍 4 Locations Unknown 💰 $218K – $249K USD / year Posted April 02, 2026
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Position Details

Salary $218K – $249K USD / year
Type Full-Time
Experience entry
Exp. Years 2+ years
Education Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related fields, with an exception that required degree will be obtained on or before the scheduled start date or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related fields plus 2 years of experience in Applied Research
Category AI & Machine Learning

About this role

Applied Researcher I focusing on AI foundations, LLM customization, finetuning, and reinforcement learning to push production-grade AI capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

  • Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver AI-powered products
  • Leverage PyTorch, AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, Lightning, VectorDBs
  • Build AI foundation models through all development phases
  • Engage in applied research to push production capabilities
  • Translate research into business goals

Technical Overview

Strong ML/NLP background with experience in LLMs, pretraining/fine-tuning, guardrails, and deployment using open-source tools and cloud platforms.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is an early-career or mid-career applied researcher with a PhD (or MS with significant experience) in ML/NLP, capable of advancing LLM customization, finetuning, RLHF, and productionizing AI foundations.

Must-Have Skills

PhD in Electrical EngineeringComputer EngineeringComputer ScienceAIMathematics or related fields with start date by start date OR MS in related fields plus 2 years of experience in Applied Research

Nice-to-Have Skills

LLMNLPPre-training / FinetuningPublications in NLP/ML/ACL/NeurIPSExtensive ML research background

Tools & Platforms

PyTorchAWS UltraclustersHuggingfaceLightningVectorDBsNemo Guardrails

Required Skills

PhD in Electrical EngineeringComputer EngineeringComputer ScienceAIMathematicsor related fields with start date; or MS + 2 years applied research; PyTorch; AWS Ultraclusters; Huggingface; Lightning; VectorDBs; Nemo Guardrails; LLM training; RLHF; NLP

Hard Skills

PhD in Electrical Engineering / CS / AI or related fieldsPytorchAWS UltraclustersHuggingfaceLightningVectorDBsNemo GuardrailsLLM trainingReinforcement LearningGuardrailsNLPMLOps

Soft Skills

Creative thinkingCommunicationTeam leadershipIndependent researchProblem solving

Industry & Role

Industry Banking
Job Function Develop and apply AI foundation models and LLM customization for banking applications
Role Subtype Applied Researcher
Tech Domains Python, PyTorch, AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, Lightning, VectorDBs, Nemo Guardrails, LLM, NLP

Clearance & Visa

Visa Sponsorship Yes

Keywords for Your Resume

Applied Researcher IAI FoundationsLLM CustomizationFinetuningReinforcement LearningCapital OnePytorchAWS UltraclustersHuggingfaceLightningVectorDBsNemo GuardrailsLLM trainingNLPRLHFOpen SourceMLOpsapplied researchllm customizationfinetuningreinforcement learningpytorchhuggingfaceaws ultraclustersvectordbsnemo guardrailsguardrails

Deal Breakers

Lack of applicable advanced ML/NLP experience, No sponsorship eligibility

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