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Staff Research Scientist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Position Overview We are seeking a Staff Research Scientist to join our team and contribute to the development of next-generation AI models. This position offers a unique opportunity to work on ...

Position Overview We are seeking a Staff Research Scientist to join our team and contribute to the development of next-generation AI models. This position offers a unique opportunity to work on ...

About the Role We are seeking a research scientist to join our print development organization, a collaborative team that enjoys a positive, supportive work environment and group social events. In ...

Staff Research Scientist

Sunnyvale, CA ยท On-site

$218K - $335K/yr

As a Staff Research Scientist in the AI Research organization, you will be advancing the frontier of machine learning to solve challenging problems in autonomous driving. You will design ...

The Staff Research Scientist will work with fellow researchers and cross-functional partners to advance the long-term research agenda in quantum information and computation, helping deliver ...

Staff Research Scientist

Sunnyvale, CA ยท On-site

$218K - $335K/yr

As a Staff Research Scientist in the AI Research organization, you will be advancing the frontier of machine learning to solve challenging problems in autonomous driving. You will designstate-of-the ...

The Staff Research Scientistwill work withfellowresearchersand cross-functionalpartnerstoadvance ... D. in Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, ElectricalEngineeringora related field.

Staff Research Scientist

Sunnyvale, CA ยท On-site

$137K - $206K/yr

About the Role We are seeking a research scientist to join our print development organization, a collaborative team that enjoys a positive, supportive work environment and group social events. In ...

PhD in Computer Science, Operations Research, Statistics, or highly quantitative field with strength in Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Statistical or other mathematical analysis

We are hiring a Staff Research Scientist, Exotic AI for our AI Research team . You will build the next-generation training and learning platform for physical AI: models that perceive, reason about ...

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Staff Research Scientist information

See salary details

$50.5K

$130.1K

$174K

How much do staff research scientist jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for staff research scientist in the United States is $130,117.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $107,500.00 and $173,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Staff Research Scientist vs Research Scientist?

AspectStaff Research ScientistResearch Scientist
Required CredentialsMaster's or PhD in relevant field, extensive research experienceMaster's or PhD, entry to mid-level research experience
Work EnvironmentAdvanced research teams, often in industry or academiaResearch teams, labs, or academic settings
Employer & Industry UsageTech companies, research institutions, biotech firmsUniversities, research labs, industry R&D

The main difference is that a Staff Research Scientist typically has more experience, leadership responsibilities, and contributes to strategic research initiatives, whereas a Research Scientist is often in an earlier stage of their research career focusing on executing experiments and data analysis.

What is a staff research scientist?

Staff Research Scientists are experienced professionals who lead and contribute to advanced research projects within organizations such as universities, private companies, or government agencies. They often serve as technical experts, guiding research direction, mentoring junior scientists, and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams. Their responsibilities include designing experiments, analyzing data, publishing findings, and sometimes securing funding. Staff Research Scientists play a critical role in driving innovation and advancing knowledge in their field.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a staff research scientist?

To thrive as a Staff Research Scientist, you need advanced expertise in scientific research methods, data analysis, and a relevant PhD or equivalent experience in your field. Familiarity with specialized laboratory equipment, programming languages (such as Python or R), and experience with data management systems or research software is typically required. Strong critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and the capacity to communicate complex ideas clearly are crucial soft skills in this role. These skills and qualifications ensure rigorous scientific outcomes, effective collaboration, and the advancement of innovative research projects.

What are some common challenges faced by staff research scientists when leading cross-functional research projects?

Staff Research Scientists often encounter challenges such as aligning project goals across multiple departments, managing diverse stakeholder expectations, and ensuring effective communication between research, engineering, and product teams. Balancing long-term research objectives with immediate business needs can also be complex. Success in this role typically involves strong leadership, adaptability, and the ability to translate scientific findings into actionable outcomes for the organization.
What cities are hiring for Staff Research Scientist jobs? Cities with the most Staff Research Scientist job openings:
What states have the most Staff Research Scientist jobs? States with the most job openings for Staff Research Scientist jobs include:
Infographic showing various Staff Research Scientist job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 76% Full Time, 17% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 5% Contract. Highlights an 97% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 2% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $130,117 per year, or $62.6 per hour.

Staff Research Scientist

MongoDB

Palo Alto, CA โ€ข On-site, Remote

Full-time

Re-posted 10 days ago


Job description

About Voyage AI Team at MongoDB

Voyage AI team in MongoDB is building a best-in-class, general-purpose, domain-specific, and fine-tuned embedding models and rerankers to enable accurate, efficient unstructured data search and retrieval for RAG, recommendation, semantic search, and more. It is backed by a strong team of AI researchers from Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Princeton, and CMU, who have conducted over five years of cutting-edge research on training embedding models. Voyage AI was acquired by MongoDB recently, and is now integrating the SOTA embedding models with MongoDB's data platform to create powerful end-to-end solutions.

We are looking to speak to candidates who are based in Palo Alto for our hybrid working model.

Position Overview

We are seeking a Staff Research Scientist to join our team and contribute to the development of next-generation AI models. This position offers a unique opportunity to work on challenging problems at the intersection of machine learning research and practical deployment of large neural networks.

This role can be based out of our Palo Alto office, or remotely in the United States.

Responsibilities
  • Conduct cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence, from frontier LLMs to embedding models and rerankers
  • Innovate in next-generation information retrieval and LLM agent paradigm
  • Collaborate closely with other research scientists and research engineers as well as peers across the organization
Qualifications
  • PhD degree in Computer Science or related field
  • A track record of coming up with new ideas or improving upon existing ideas in machine learning, demonstrated by accomplishments such as first author publications in top venues
  • Strong background in machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing
  • Experience building complex neural networks for language and visual understanding
  • Capable of conducting rigorous empirical studies to validate theoretical results
  • Excellent leadership, problem-solving, and communication skills
What We Offer
  • Opportunity to work on real-world problems at the cutting edge of AI research
  • Opportunity to utilize research vision to innovate the entire company and make real-world impact
  • Exposure to the full lifecycle of AI model development, from research to production
  • Our compensation (base + equity) for this position is competitive with frontier AI labs
About MongoDB

MongoDB is built for change, empowering our customers and our people to innovate at the speed of the market. We have redefined the data platform for the AI era, enabling builders to create, transform, and disrupt industries with software. MongoDB's unified data platform, the most widely available, globally distributed data platform on the market, helps organizations modernize legacy workloads, embrace innovation, and unleash AI. Our cloud-native platform, MongoDB Atlas, is the only globally distributed, multi-cloud data platform and is available across AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

With offices worldwide and over 67,000 customers, including 75% of the Fortune 100 and AI-native startups, relying on MongoDB for their most important applications, we're powering the next era of software.

Our compass at MongoDB is our Leadership Commitment, guiding how and why we make decisions, show up for each other, and win. It's what makes us MongoDB.

To drive the personal growth and business impact of our employees, we're committed to developing a supportive and enriching culture for everyone.ย From employee affinity groups, to fertility assistance and a generous parental leave policy, we value our employees' wellbeing and want to support them along every step of their professional and personal journeys.ย Learn more about what it's like to work at MongoDB, and help us make an impact on the world!

MongoDB is committed to providing any necessary accommodations for individuals with disabilities within our application and interview process. To request an accommodation due to a disability, please inform your recruiter.

MongoDB, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and makes all hiring decisions without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Req ID: 2273454547