Principal AI Research Engineer

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

• Setting research vision and driving technical strategy in AI/ML for Generative AI and other Deep Learning technologies in the aviation domain.
• Designing, implementing, and evaluating novel machine learning and deep learning algorithms at scale.
• Leading development of AI models from data acquisition and preprocessing through training, architecture design, evaluation, and deployment.
• Guiding teams in translating academic breakthroughs into validated, real-world solutions.
• Conducting and overseeing experiments to benchmark techniques, assess robustness, and evaluate performance under operational constraints.
• Building scalable, reproducible, and efficient research tools, pipelines, and frameworks.
• Mentoring research engineers and fostering a culture of technical excellence and innovation.
• Staying at the forefront of AI/ML research, identifying trends, and strategically applying them to Archer’s technology roadmap.

• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field with a strong emphasis on AI/ML.
• 10+ years of AI/ML research and development experience, with a proven track record of delivering impactful solutions.
• Exceptional proficiency with ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Deep expertise in areas such as transformer architectures, attention mechanisms, multimodal foundation models, diffusion policies, model fine-tuning, distillation, and mixture of experts.
• Strong ability to define AI model requirements, debug complex systems, and optimize training and evaluation processes.
• Up-to-date knowledge of the latest AI/ML techniques, methodologies, and literature.
• Experience driving research from concept to production in high-stakes or safety-critical applications.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including version control, testing, and code quality.

• Experience with reinforcement learning, self-supervised training, and imitation learning.
• Expertise developing Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for robotics, manipulation, or mobility.
• Demonstrated success in scaling AI solutions to production environments.
• Publications at top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICRA, CVPR, ACL).
• Contributions to open-source AI/ML projects.

Please note that this job description is intended to provide a general overview of the position and does not include an exhaustive list of responsibilities and qualifications

At Archer we aim to attract, retain, and motivate talent that possess the skills and leadership necessary to grow our business. We drive a pay-for-performance culture and reward performance that supports the Company’s business strategy. For this position we are targeting a base pay between $238,080.00 - $297,600.00. Actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Archer is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Archer is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with physical or mental disabilities, and those with sincerely held religious beliefs. Applicants who may require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should provide their name and contact information to Archer’s People Team at people@archer.com. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Information collected and processed as part of any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Archer's Candidate Privacy Policy.

Archer is unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this position at the present time.

Archer is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Archer Aviation does not engage with external recruiting agencies/individual recruiters with whom it does not have a prior written agreement. Archer reserves the right to make use of any unsolicited resumes that it receives and bears no responsibility for payment of any fees asserted from the use of unsolicited resumes. If you are a recruiting agency or individual recruiter wishing to do business with Archer, please reach out to People@archer.com. All employment processes are managed by the Archer People Team.