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Masters Researcher Jobs (NOW HIRING)

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 ...

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 2 years of related experience, or Masters + 0 years of related experience in Computer ...

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 2 years of related experience, or Masters + 0 years of related experience in Computer ...

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 ...

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 ...

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 2 years of related experience, or Masters + 0 years of related experience in Computer ...

We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization ... Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 ...

Required Experience and Education: * 7+ years of UX Research/Human Factors experience with a Bachelors degree, or 1+ years of UX Research/Human Factors experience with a Masters degree. * Educational ...

Bachelor's and 5 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience * Experience designing, executing, and leading end-to-end AI research initiatives, including the development ...

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Showing results 1-20

Masters Researcher information

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$30K

$113.1K

$164.5K

How much do masters researcher jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 22, 2026, the average yearly pay for masters researcher in the United States is $113,102.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $67,000.00 and $154,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

Can you be a researcher with a Masters degree?

Yes, many research positions, including those for Masters Researchers, require a Master's degree as a minimum qualification. These roles often involve data analysis, literature review, and project management, and may require specific skills or certifications depending on the field. Having a Master's degree can qualify you for entry-level research roles or specialized research positions in various industries.

What is the difference between Masters Researcher vs Research Assistant?

AspectMasters ResearcherResearch Assistant
Required CredentialsMaster's degree or pursuing oneBachelor's degree or enrolled in a related program
Work EnvironmentAcademic or research institutions, often independent projectsUniversities, labs, or research centers, supporting senior researchers
Employer & Industry UsageUniversities, research institutes, industry R&D departmentsUniversities, government agencies, private research firms
Common Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding roles involving independent research at a master's levelSupporting research activities, assisting senior researchers

Masters Researchers typically hold or pursue a master's degree and conduct independent research projects, often within academic or industry settings. Research Assistants usually have a bachelor's degree and support research activities under supervision. While both roles are involved in research, Masters Researchers focus on independent work, whereas Research Assistants assist senior staff with specific tasks.

What are some common challenges Masters Researchers face when balancing coursework and research responsibilities?

Masters Researchers often find it challenging to balance the demands of their coursework with the expectations of conducting original research. Managing time effectively is crucial, as research projects can require significant independent initiative and problem-solving outside of regular class hours. Many researchers work closely with advisors and lab teams, so clear communication and organizational skills help in meeting deadlines and maintaining steady progress. Building a support network among peers and faculty can also ease the transition into a research-focused environment.

What are Masters Researchers?

Masters Researchers are graduate students who conduct original research as part of their master's degree program. Their work typically involves designing experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting findings in a thesis or academic papers. Masters Researchers often collaborate with faculty advisors and may contribute to ongoing research projects within their department. Their research helps them develop advanced knowledge and skills in their field, preparing them for careers in academia, industry, or further study.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Masters Researcher, and why are they important?

To excel as a Masters Researcher, you need strong analytical skills, subject-specific knowledge, and a relevant undergraduate degree, often accompanied by research experience. Familiarity with data analysis software (such as SPSS, R, or NVivo), literature databases, and adherence to ethical research practices is typically required. Excellent written communication, critical thinking, and time management are crucial soft skills that help in synthesizing findings and meeting project deadlines. These capabilities are vital for producing high-quality research, contributing to academic knowledge, and successfully completing graduate-level projects.

What jobs can you get with a Masters in research?

A Masters in research prepares individuals for roles such as research analyst, research scientist, data analyst, or project coordinator across various industries. These positions often require strong analytical skills, familiarity with research methodologies, and proficiency with data analysis tools like SPSS or R.

What jobs in the US pay 300,000 a year?

Masters Researchers typically do not earn $300,000 annually; high-paying roles for advanced degree holders include senior management, specialized medical professionals, investment bankers, and certain technology executives. Achieving such salaries often requires extensive experience, advanced certifications, or leadership positions in competitive industries.

What jobs pay $10,000 a month without a degree?

For a Masters Researcher, high-paying roles without a degree are rare, but some fields like sales, real estate, or entrepreneurship can offer earnings of $10,000 or more monthly with experience and strong skills. Freelance consulting, digital marketing, or specialized trades may also reach this income level, often requiring self-motivation, networking, and proficiency with relevant tools. Most high-income jobs typically demand advanced skills, certifications, or significant experience rather than formal degrees alone.
More about Masters Researcher jobs
Infographic showing various Masters Researcher job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 2% As Needed, 95% Full Time, 1% Part Time, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 10% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $113,102 per year, or $54.4 per hour.
AI Researcher

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 4 days ago


Cisco Systems rating

8.0

Company rating: 8.0 out of 10

Based on 40 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

47th of 139 rated electronics manufacturers


Job description

Please note this posting is to advertise potential job opportunities. This exact role may not be open today but could open in the near future. When you apply, a Cisco representative may contact you directly if a relevant position opens.

Applications are accepted until further notice.

Meet the Team

At Foundation AI, we are leading frontier AI research across Cisco. Our mission is to advance the state of AI. We translate that research into purpose-built models, agentic systems, new algorithms, optimization methods, and scalable data processing techniques that solve real-world problems at scale.

We explore new model architectures, pre-training and post-training methods, inference optimization, evaluation techniques, and data pipelines. Together, we are advancing AI at Cisco and for the broader AI community!

Your Impact

As an AI Researcher, you will work on the research, development, and deployment of advanced AI systems. Your focus will span large language models, agentic AI, multimodal learning, and enterprise-scale AI applications. We are looking for researchers who will help translate frontier research into practical systems by designing experiments, developing new methods, and turning research insights into impactful, scalable AI solutions.

We are particularly interested in researchers with deepexpertisein algorithm design for pre-training and post-training, scalable data curation, and reliable AI infrastructure. You will drive improvements to training algorithms, curate and optimize data at scale, and design infrastructure needed to train purpose-built models that can compete with frontier models on specific tasks aligned with Cisco's business priorities and Foundation AI's research agenda.

We place a strong emphasis on publishing research and contributing meaningfully to the AI community. In this role, you willwritescientific articles for top-tier machine learning and AI conferences, publish technical blog posts, and contribute to the open-source AI community!

In this role, you will:

  • Develop scalable data curation and processing methods that improve model training and task-specific performance.

  • Build production-ready AI systems using strong software engineering practices.

  • Optimizelarge language models and agentic systems for enterprise and security-focused use cases.

Minimum Qualifications

  • Bachelors + 7 years of related experience, or Masters + 4 years of related experience, or PhD + 1 year of related experience in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related field

  • Strong experience with Python,PyTorch, production-grade software engineering practices, and common AI/ML libraries

  • Experience with large language models, model training, fine-tuning, evaluation, inference, and optimization

  • Strong understanding of data pipelines, model experimentation, and scalable AI system design

  • Strong communicationskills, with the ability to explain complex research and engineering concepts to cross-functional partners

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience designing scalable data curation methods and building reliable infrastructure for large-scale model training, evaluation, inference, and deployment

  • Experience deploying high-performance inference engines such asvLLM, NVIDIA Triton, orTorchServe, and working with cloud-native deployment, Docker, Kubernetes,MLOpspipelines, and major cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure

  • Demonstrated history of publishing research in top-tier AI/ML conferences such asNeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, or ACL, or contributing to significant open-source AI projects

  • Experience designing and scaling agentic AI workflows, multi-agent frameworks, and autonomous AI systems

  • Familiarity with cybersecurity principles, AI systems for security-focused use cases, safety, and robust machine learning

Why Cisco?

At Cisco, we're revolutionizing how data and infrastructure connect and protect organizations in the AI era - and beyond. We've been innovating fearlessly for 40 years to create solutions that power how humans and technology work together across the physical and digital worlds. These solutions provide customers with unparalleled security, visibility, and insights across the entire digital footprint.

Fueled by the depth and breadth of our technology, we experiment and create meaningful solutions. Add to that our worldwide network of doers and experts, and you'll see that the opportunities to grow and build are limitless. We work as a team, collaborating with empathy to make really big things happen on a global scale. Because our solutions are everywhere, our impact is everywhere.

We are Cisco, and our power starts with you.

Message to applicants applying to work in the U.S. and/or Canada:

Individual pay is determined by the candidate's hiring location, market conditions, job-related skillset, experience, qualifications, education, certifications, and/or training. The full salary range for certain locations is listed below. For locations not listed below, the recruiter can share more details about compensation for the role in your location during the hiring process.

U.S. employees are offered benefits, subject to Cisco's plan eligibility rules, which include medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan with a Cisco matching contribution, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability coverage, and basic life insurance. Please see the Cisco careers site to discover more benefits and perks. Employees may be eligible to receive grants of Cisco restricted stock units, which vest following continued employment with Cisco for defined periods of time.

U.S. employees are eligible for paid time away as described below, subject to Cisco's policies:

  • 10 paid holidays per full calendar year, plus 1 floating holiday for non-exempt employees

  • 1 paid day off for employee's birthday, paid year-end holiday shutdown, and 4 paid days off for personal wellness determined by Cisco

  • Non-exempt employees** receive 16 days of paid vacation time per full calendar year, accrued at rate of 4.92 hours per pay period for full-time employees

  • Exempt employees participate in Cisco's flexible vacation time off program, which has no defined limit on how much vacation time eligible employees may use (subject to availability and some business limitations)

  • 80 hours of sick time off provided on hire date and each January 1st thereafter, and up to 80 hours ofunused sick timecarried forwardfrom one calendar yearto the next

  • Additional paid time away may be requested to deal with critical or emergency issues for family members

  • Optional 10 paid days per full calendar year to volunteer

For non-sales roles, employees are also eligible to earn annual bonuses subject to Cisco's policies.

Employees on sales plans earn performance-based incentive pay on top of their base salary, which is split between quota and non-quota components, subject to the applicable Cisco plan. For quota-based incentive pay, Cisco typically pays as follows:

  • .75% of incentive target for each 1% of revenue attainment up to 50% of quota;

  • 1.5% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 50% and 75%;

  • 1% of incentive target for each 1% of attainment between 75% and 100%; and

  • Once performance exceeds 100% attainment, incentive rates are at or above 1% for each 1% of attainment with no cap on incentive compensation.

For non-quota-based sales performance elements such as strategic sales objectives, Cisco may pay 0% up to 125% of target. Cisco sales plans do not have a minimum threshold of performance for sales incentive compensation to be paid.

The applicable full salary ranges for this position, by specific state, are listed below:

New York City Metro Area:

$181,000.00 - $270,300.00

Non-Metro New York state & Washington state:

$165,300.00 - $240,600.00

* For quota-based sales roles on Cisco's sales plan, the ranges provided in this posting include base pay and sales target incentive compensation combined.

** Employees in Illinois, whether exempt or non-exempt, will participate in a unique time off program to meet local requirements.


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About Cisco Systems

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

Cisco Systems, a global tech titan based in San Jose, CA, US, operates in the information technology and services industry. Founded in 1984, the company was derived from a project between two computer scientists from Stanford University. They aimed to connect different networks of computer systems at the university, resulting in the first multi-protocol router, and subsequently, the birth of Cisco. As an industry-leading manufacturer of networking hardware and telecommunications equipment, Cisco's product and services range includes routers, switches, firewall devices, and telecommunication technology. The company's mission, "to shape the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented value and opportunity for our customers, employees, investors, and ecosystem partners," is a testament to its pursuit of technology-forward innovation and customer satisfaction.

Industry

Computer and computer peripheral equipment and software wholesalers

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

San Jose, CA, US

Year founded

1984

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