Titlesby GlyphResearch Engineer job title trend since Apr 2011
Research · Rising · in 2.2% of HN hiring posts · 161 open roles at 51 companies · median $340k
Writes the code that makes research run: training runs, experiments, infrastructure.
first seen before 2011, Hacker Newstook off Mar 2017
Why it exists
Written by rule from our own data
Already in the first Who is hiring thread we have (April 2011), so it is older than our data. It took off in March 2017, when its share of Who is hiring posts first reached a quarter of its best year. Today 161 open roles use the title at 51 companies, most of them in AI labs. Closest tracked titles: Research Scientist, Member of Technical Staff, Machine Learning Engineer.
- PostingAsk HN: Who is hiring? (April 2011)Hacker News, Apr 2011 · backs: first sighting
- PostingResearch Engineer, Cybersecurity RLAnthropic, Nov 2026 · backs: an open posting with the title
Where it is posted
Sectors
- AI lab58
- AI application33
- AI data16
- Data platform6
- Consumer5
- AI infrastructure4
- Developer tools3
- Robotics and autonomy2
Cities
- San Francisco85
- New York35
- Seattle17
- Palo Alto13
- London, United Kingdom9
- Pittsburgh3
- Zurich, Switzerland2
- Paris, France2
- Berlin, Germany2
- Bengaluru, India1
Countries and remote
- United States127
- United Kingdom13
- Switzerland2
- France2
- Canada2
- Taiwan2
- Germany2
- Spain1
- Poland1
- India1
Remote option24%
Posted pay
Middle half $278k to $440k, median $340k from 100 postings that state a base range (USD a year).
Pay by level and city on SalariesWho is hiring for it
Open postings on their own job boards, read 5h ago| # | Company | Open roles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 34 | ||
| 2 | 16 | ||
| 3 | 12 | ||
| 4 | 8 | ||
| 5 | 6 | ||
| 6 | 5 | ||
| 7 | 4 | ||
| 8 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 4 | ||
| 10 | 4 | ||
| 11 | Archer AviationA company hiring most for Test Engineer and Research Engineer. | 3 | |
| 12 | 3 |
Open roles
8 of 161; company pages list the rest| Role | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Research Engineer, Cybersecurity RL | San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | $500k to $850k | |
| Research Engineer, Model Evaluation and Improvement | San Francisco, CA | $136k to $167k | |
| Staff AI Research Engineer | New York, NY; Pittsburgh, PA | $221k to $331k | |
| Senior Research Engineer (Onsite/Hybrid)KoBold MetalsSan Francisco Bay Area$130k to $190k | KoBold Metals | San Francisco Bay Area | $130k to $190k |
| Research Engineer, Benchmarks & Evaluation | New York, NY (HQ) | $204k to $352k | |
| Senior Security Research Engineer | United States | $133k to $211k | |
| Research Engineer / Scientist, Data & Evals | Remote | $230k to $450k | |
| Vulnerability Research EngineerSocketRemote$110k to $170k | Socket | Remote | $110k to $170k |
Share of Hacker News hiring posts
456 posts since Apr 2011 · +105% in 6 monthsNovember 2026 5 of 207 postings, 2.4%
Related titles
Research ScientistDesigns and runs experiments to push what models can do; usually a PhD role.1.4% of HN posts, 12 mo · 122 open · $232k median · since Mar 2012Member of Technical StaffA deliberately flat title from Bell Labs, revived by AI labs for engineers and researchers alike.1.1% of HN posts, 12 mo · 206 open · $250k median · since Aug 2015Machine Learning EngineerTrains, ships and maintains machine learning models in production.4.3% of HN posts, 12 mo · 331 open · $255k median · since Apr 2011Applied ScientistResearch methods pointed at a product problem; Amazon made the title mainstream.0.39% of HN posts, 12 mo · 26 open · $243k median · since Feb 2016AI TutorWrites and grades data that teaches a model a language or a subject; a model-training role, not teaching people.10 open · seen Jul 2020AI ScientistBuilds and trains new AI models for one field, such as biology or enterprise data, from research methods to the models a product relies on.3 open · $275k median · seen Sep 2026
About this title
Writes the code that makes research run: training runs, experiments, infrastructure.
Also counted: RE
First sighting
...India - Front end designer, Deployment architect, NLP research engineer. http://iapps.in/jobs
Median posted salary $340k from 100 postings that state a base pay range (the median of their midpoints, USD a year). Not a survey of what people earn.