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Applied Research Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Applied Compute

Applied Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$200K - $320K/yr

  • Medical

  • Retirement

  • PTO

The role As an applied research engineer, you'll own customer engagements end-to-end: understanding their data, their workflows, and their problems, then building and deploying agents that deliver ...

Hirevouch

Applied Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

Role Overview As an Applied Research Engineer, you will be at the forefront of developing cutting-edge systems and methods to create, analyze, and leverage high-quality human-in-the-loop data for ...

Salesforce, Inc.

Applied Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

The Research Engineering team works directly alongside Research Scientists to bring models to life. This position is dedicated to a high-impact systems role, providing the best of both worlds: deep ...

Salesforce, Inc.

Applied Research Engineer

Palo Alto, CA

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

The Research Engineering team works directly alongside Research Scientists to bring models to life. This position is dedicated to a high-impact systems role, providing the best of both worlds: deep ...

Salesforce, Inc.

Applied Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

The Research Engineering team works directly alongside Research Scientists to bring models to life. This position is dedicated to a high-impact systems role, providing the best of both worlds: deep ...

Salesforce, Inc.

Applied Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

The Research Engineering team works directly alongside Research Scientists to bring models to life. This position is dedicated to a high-impact systems role, providing the best of both worlds: deep ...

Hebbia

Applied Research Engineer, Agents

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$241K/yr

The Applied Research Engineer will bridge research and application, focusing on enabling agentic capabilities across the Hebbia product suite and owning experiments to solve high-value customer ...

Salesforce, Inc.

Applied Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

  • Medical

  • Dental

  • Vision

  • Life

  • Retirement

The Research Engineering team works directly alongside Research Scientists to bring models to life. This position is dedicated to a high-impact systems role, providing the best of both worlds: deep ...

Nvidia

Senior Applied Research Scientist

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$115K - $147K/yr

We are seeking senior research scientists and engineers to push the frontier of large-scale ... as applied to drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, or medical chemistry. This is a hands-on role ...

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All JobsApplied Research JobsApplied Research Jobs in California

Applied Research information

See California salary details

$11

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$36

How much do applied research jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 15, 2026, the average hourly pay for applied research in California is $21.93, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $17.07 and $23.51 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an applied researcher, and why are they important?

To thrive as an Applied Researcher, you need strong analytical abilities, a solid background in scientific methodology, and typically an advanced degree in a relevant field such as engineering, computer science, or social sciences. Proficiency with statistical analysis software, programming languages (like Python or R), and data visualization tools is often required. Creative problem-solving, effective communication, and the ability to collaborate across disciplines are essential soft skills. These competencies enable Applied Researchers to design impactful studies, extract actionable insights from data, and drive innovations that address real-world challenges.

What is applied research?

Applied research is a type of research focused on solving practical problems and developing new technologies, products, or processes. Unlike basic research, which aims to expand fundamental knowledge, applied research is driven by real-world needs and aims to find solutions that can be directly implemented. Professionals in this field often work in industries such as healthcare, engineering, education, and technology to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Their work frequently results in innovations that improve efficiency, effectiveness, and overall quality of life.

How does an applied researcher typically collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive project outcomes?

Applied Researchers often work closely with product managers, engineers, and data analysts to ensure that research findings are effectively integrated into product development or business strategies. Collaboration usually involves regular meetings to align on project goals, sharing interim results, and iterating on experimental designs based on team feedback. Open communication and the ability to translate complex research insights into actionable recommendations are key to success in this role. This collaborative approach helps ensure that research has a tangible impact and supports organizational objectives.

What is the difference between Applied Research vs Data Analyst?

AspectApplied ResearchData Analyst
Required CredentialsMaster's or PhD in relevant fields (e.g., science, engineering)Bachelor's or Master's in data science, statistics, or related fields
Work EnvironmentResearch labs, universities, R&D departmentsBusiness, finance, healthcare, tech companies
Employer & Industry UsageAcademic, government, private research firmsCorporate sectors, consulting firms, tech companies
Common Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding research roles, academic careersData analysis, business insights, reporting

Applied Research involves developing new knowledge or solutions through scientific methods, often in academic or research settings. Data Analysts focus on interpreting existing data to inform business decisions, typically within corporate environments. While both roles require analytical skills, Applied Research emphasizes experimental design and innovation, whereas Data Analysts concentrate on data interpretation and reporting.

What are the most commonly searched types of Applied Research jobs in California?

The most popular types of Applied Research jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Applied Research jobs in California?

For Applied Research jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Applied Research jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Applied Research jobs in California are:

Applied Research jobs near you
Infographic showing various Applied Research job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $45,616 per year, or $21.9 per hour.

Applied Research Engineer

Applied Compute

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$200K - $320K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Retirement, PTO

Re-posted 24 days ago

Job description

The role
As an applied research engineer, you'll own customer engagements end-to-end: understanding their data, their workflows, and their problems, then building and deploying agents that deliver real value. For our largest customers, you'll train custom models tailored to their specific needs. For others, you'll take what you learn and bring it back to improve our general agents.
What you'll do
  • Train and post-train models for enterprises, from environment design through deployment
  • Own engagements end-to-end, working directly with technical and business stakeholders
  • Navigate new customer architectures, data systems, and requirements quickly
  • Surface learnings from customers and contribute them back to our platform
  • Collaborate across research, product, and infrastructure to define architectures, evaluation frameworks, and best practices

What we're looking for
  • Meaningful AI research experience, either in industry or academic work
  • Comfort diving into unfamiliar codebases and training models on real-world, messy data
  • Strong problem-solving skills, especially in ambiguous, fast-changing environments
  • Ability to work directly with customers: listening, empathizing, and understanding how their organizations operate
  • Desire to own problems end-to-end and deliver outcomes

Strong candidates also have
  • Experience training or fine-tuning language models in production settings
  • Background building RL environments, evaluation frameworks, or agent systems
  • Previous experience as a founder or early engineer at a zero-to-one company
  • Technical creativity through side projects, open source contributions, or published work
  • Experience at companies with forward-deployed or customer-facing engineering cultures

The U.S. base salary range for this full-time position is $200,000-$320,000. Total compensation for this role also includes meaningful equity in a fast-growing startup, along with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support you both personally and professionally. Base salary is determined by a range of factors including individual qualifications, experience, skills, interview performance, market data, and work location. The listed salary range is intended as a guideline and may be adjusted.
About us
Applied Compute builds Specific Intelligence for the enterprise. We provide the continual learning infrastructure for companies to build agent workforces trained on proprietary data and institutional expertise. Our researchers and platform embed directly within customer environments to build custom evals, train models, and deploy agents that get better with use.
  • Why we're excited: We get to work at a rare intersection. Our product team builds the platform powering a new generation of digital coworkers. Our research team pushes the frontier of post-training and reinforcement learning. Our applied AI team sits side-by-side with customers as they ship agents into production. This combination of strong product, deep research, and boots on the ground is what we believe it takes to bring AI to the enterprise. We are product-led, research-enabled, and forward-deployed.
  • Who we are: We're a team of engineers, researchers, and operators. Many of us are former founders. We've built RL infrastructure at OpenAI, data foundations at Scale AI, and systems at Together, Two Sigma, Watershed, and others. We work with F50 customers and are fortunate to be backed by partners like Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark, Sequoia, Lux, and Greenoaks.
  • Who Thrives Here: We're looking for people who are excited about applying novel research and complex systems to real-world problems. Our team genuinely enjoys working with customers: listening, empathizing, and understanding how work actually gets done in their organizations. Former founders, people who've built a lot of side projects, or anyone who's shown they can own something end-to-end, tend to do well here.

Benefits & Logistics
This role is based in San Francisco. We work from our office in the Mission. We offer:
  • Competitive compensation and equity
  • 100% employer-paid health insurance coverage
  • Unlimited PTO
  • Paid parental leave
  • Daily lunches and dinners
  • Transportation and relocation support
  • Retirement plans

We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the process with you. We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every single qualification. As set forth in Applied Compute's Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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