Principal Research Scientist

System1 is looking for an experienced machine learning researcher and practitioner to join our data science and machine learning team as a Principal Research Scientist. This is a senior individual contributor role focused on driving research and development of new cutting-edge machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms that power automation and optimization capabilities for one of the biggest real-time acquisition marketing platforms in the world - reaching 100s of millions of users every month.The ideal candidate will have extensive experience designing and building algorithms to automate and optimize planning and decisioning for extremely complex dynamic systems with imperfect information. You should keep up with the latest academic research and developments in reinforcement learning (e.g. MuZero, AlphaStar, Player of Games/growing-tree counterfactual regret minimization, etc) and intuitively understand how these algorithms can be applied to automate and optimize execution of large-scale advertising campaigns to balance both performance and portfolio risk. With billions of data points ingested daily and the ability to impact and automate millions of critical decisions that drive the core of our business, this is a unique opportunity to build new advanced ML and AI capabilities at a company that still innovates at the pace of a startup but has the data and scale of a successful billion dollar company!What You Can Expect on the TeamProvide both hands-on/individual contributor support and technical thought leadership in the development of an automated and intelligent advertising system by advancing the state-of-the-art in machine/reinforcement learning techniques to support large-scale optimization of media/channel mix, ad selection, bidding and overall campaign performance, etcDeploy and test promising ideas quickly and broadly, managing deadlines and deliverables while applying the latest theories to develop new and improved ML driven products and capabilitiesKeep abreast of relevant research in online ad auction design, computational advertising, and computational economicsMaintain expert knowledge in computer science, machine (and deep) learning, data mining, reinforcement learning, large-scale robust optimization techniques and moreWork with cross-functional teams of engineers, scientists, and analysts, to devise implementation and experimentation strategiesActively contribute to the wider internal and external data science and machine learning communities by sharing and publishing research and findingsUtilize broad and deep knowledge of machine learning to contribute to the development of System1''s roadmap for core machine learning capabilitiesCoach and mentor data scientists to elevate the talent bar across System1 What You Will BringDegree in a highly quantitative field (e.g. Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Math, Operations Research, etc) or equivalent work experienceDemonstrated experience researching & developing algorithms for intelligent automation and optimization systemsStrong machine learning and algorithmic background with a deep understanding of advanced reinforcement learning and deep learning techniquesHands-on experience using high performance machine learning libraries and/or deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, Tensorflow, RAPIDs, etc)Hands-on experience building ML driven productsExperience leading technical research and production grade development effortsFluency with at least one data science/analytics programming language (e.g. Python, R, Julia) Strong functional programming development skills (preferred)Ability to effectively communicate technical information to a wide spectrum of cross-functional team membersExperience mentoring and coaching junior team membersWhat We Have to OfferCompetitive PTO11 Company HolidaysUntracked sick time100% covered Medical, Dental, Vision for employees401k w/matchPaid professional developmentLeadership & growth opportunitiesVirtual company and team building eventsBI-RemoteLI-Remote

Created: 2026-03-07