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Remote Research Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Waabi

Research Engineer, World Models

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$155K - $269K/yr

As a Research Engineer in the World Models team, you will develop algorithms and productionize the next generation of World Models that can reason about complex, dynamic 4D environments. This role ...

Waabi

Research Engineer, World Models

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$155K - $269K/yr

As a Research Engineer in the World Models team, you will develop algorithms and productionize the next generation of World Models that can reason about complex, dynamic 4D environments. This role ...

Waabi

Research Engineer, Neural Rendering

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$134K - $235K/yr

To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai As a Research Engineer in Neural Rendering, you will create the next generation of multi-sensor rendering systems for autonomous driving. You will collaborate with ...

Waabi

Research Engineer, Neural Rendering

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$134K - $235K/yr

To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai As a Research Engineer in Neural Rendering, you will create the next generation of multi-sensor rendering systems for autonomous driving. You will collaborate with ...

Waabi

Research Engineer, Neural Rendering

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$134K - $235K/yr

To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai As a Research Engineer in Neural Rendering, you will create the next generation of multi-sensor rendering systems for autonomous driving. You will collaborate with ...

Profluent

Machine Learning Research Engineer

Emeryville, CA · On-site +1

$237K/yr

... research ideas and bring them into production Who You Are * You're comfortable taking ownership and working independently in a fast-moving environment * You're an execution-oriented engineer who ...

Tilda Research

We are based in India and USA and this position will be fully remote, working from home. You will ... world-class engineers, data scientists and clinical operations experts to reimagine the ...

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All JobsResearch Engineer JobsRemote Research Engineer JobsRemote Research Engineer Jobs in California

Remote Research Engineer information

See California salary details

$36.5K

$104.6K

$140.6K

How much do remote research engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 15, 2026, the average yearly pay for remote research engineer in California is $104,624.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $102,600.00 and $102,600.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a remote research engineer?

A Remote Research Engineer is a professional who conducts research and develops new technologies, algorithms, or solutions while working remotely. They typically work in fields like artificial intelligence, machine learning, software development, or scientific research. Their responsibilities include designing experiments, analyzing data, and collaborating with teams using digital communication tools. This role requires strong problem-solving skills, self-motivation, and proficiency in programming or research methodologies. Remote Research Engineers often contribute to cutting-edge advancements while maintaining flexibility in their work environment.

What skills and qualifications are needed to thrive as a remote research engineer?

A Remote Research Engineer typically needs a strong background in scientific research methods, programming, data analysis, and a relevant degree in engineering or a related field. Familiarity with statistical software, cloud-based collaboration tools, and experience with programming languages such as Python or MATLAB are often required, with additional certifications in machine learning or data science considered advantageous. Excellent written and verbal communication, problem-solving abilities, and self-motivation are key soft skills for success in remote environments. These competencies enable effective independent work, high-quality research output, and seamless collaboration within distributed teams.

What are some unique challenges faced by remote research engineers and how can they be overcome?

Remote Research Engineers often encounter challenges related to collaborating across different time zones, ensuring clear communication, and maintaining access to necessary data or computational resources. To overcome these issues, it's important to leverage project management tools, establish regular virtual meetings, and proactively document and share research findings with the team. Strong time management and self-discipline are also essential to balance deep-focus research tasks with collaborative discussions. Organizations usually provide virtual platforms and cloud infrastructure to support seamless work, but developing personal workflows for communication and resource access can further enhance effectiveness in the role.

Do you need a PhD to be a remote research engineer?

A PhD is not strictly required to be a remote research engineer, but many roles prefer candidates with advanced degrees in relevant fields such as engineering, computer science, or data science. Practical experience, strong technical skills, and proficiency with research tools and programming languages are often more important for these positions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What cities in California are hiring for Remote Research Engineer jobs?

Cities in California with the most Remote Research Engineer job openings:

Remote Research Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Remote Research Engineer job openings in California as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 1% As Needed, 83% Full Time, 13% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 1% Contract. Highlights an 76% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 20% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $104,624 per year, or $50.3 per hour.

Research Engineer, World Models

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

Waabi
See more jobs at Waabiexternal

$155K - $269K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO

Re-posted 15 days ago

Key responsibilities

  • Develop algorithms and build models for reasoning about complex, dynamic 4D environments, including video, multimodal, and predictive models.

  • Collaborate with research scientists to translate prototypes into scalable training and inference pipelines, and optimize model performance.

  • Build and maintain large-scale data pipelines and ensure the quality, stability, and maintainability of the world model codebase and infrastructure.

Job description

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech.
 
With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

Waabi’s autonomous-driving stack is powered by Waabi World, which delivers realistic, scalable, controllable, and efficient simulation. As a Research Engineer in the World Models team, you will develop algorithms and productionize the next generation of World Models that can reason about complex, dynamic 4D environments.

This role focuses on large-scale world models for temporal reasoning and generation, including video models, multimodal generative models, LLM/VLM/VLA models, and predictive models of traffic participants and scenes. Your work will directly power Waabi World’s ability to model future evolution, synthesize realistic safety-critical scenarios, and provide rich generative priors for downstream planning, testing, and training.

You will…

  • Design, implement, and scale state-of-the-art generative and predictive world-modeling systems:
    • Video generation and prediction
    • Latent diffusion / autoregressive / flow-matching models
    • Multimodal foundation models for driving scenes
    • LLM / VLM / VLA methods for scene understanding, reasoning, and control
    • Generative scenario modeling and controllable simulation
    • Model distillation
  • Collaborate closely with Research Scientists to translate cutting-edge model prototypes into robust, large-scale, distributed training and inference pipelines.
  • Optimize model training and inference for efficiency, speed, and reliability on large-scale datasets.
  • Build large scale data pipelines to build high quality datasets for training
  • Ensure the quality, stability, and maintainability of the world model codebase and infrastructure.
  • Stay on top of emerging advances in generative AI, distributed systems, and efficient model deployment in robotics.
 
Qualifications:
  • Strong software engineering and implementation: You have very strong Python & PyTorch (or JAX) skills; strong software-engineering fundamentals, and extensive experience with distributed training and large-scale model deployment.
  • Demonstrated technical impact: You have a Master's degree in Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience in model development and scaling.
  • Expert domain knowledge: You have built and deployed generative or predictive models of the physical world, focusing on scale, efficiency, and robustness for real-world applications.
  • Team player: You have worked in a close-knit team of researchers and engineers and have strong communication to deliver successful projects in a fast-paced environment. 
 
Bonus:
  • Experience with infrastructure and tooling for large-scale ML training (e.g., cloud platforms, Kubeflow, Ray).
  • Experience with efficient model serving and deployment (e.g., ONNX, TensorRT).
  • Publications or research at top ML/CV/Robotics conference (e.g., CVPR, ECCV, NeurIPS)
The US yearly salary range for this role is: $155,000 - $269,000 USD in addition to competitive perks & benefits. Waabi US Inc.’s yearly salary ranges are determined based on several factors in accordance with the Company’s compensation practices. The salary base range is reflective of the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations.  Note: The Company provides additional compensation for employees in this role, including equity incentive awards and an annual performance bonus.
 

Perks/Benefits:
  • Competitive compensation and equity awards.
  • Health and Wellness benefits encompassing Medical, Dental and Vision coverage (for full-time employees only).
  • Unlimited Vacation.
  • Flexible hours and Work from Home support.
  • Daily drinks, snacks and catered meals (when in office).
  • Regularly scheduled team building activities and social events both on-site, off-site & virtually.
  • As we grow, this list continues to evolve! 
 
Waabi is a technology start-up building technologies to transform the way the world moves. Join our talented team to be a part of the future and to make an impact!
 
Waabi is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all our employees. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, age, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, caregiver status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We make workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.