Applied Machine Learning Engineer (LLMs & RL) Job at Intel in Santa Clara

Role Overview

We are seeking an Applied Machine Learning Engineer (LLMs & RL) to join our team, focused on fine‑tuning large language models (LLMs). This role sits at the intersection of research and engineering: the ideal candidate designs and implements post‑training pipelines, develops RL environments and reward models, and conducts training runs to improve model capabilities for agentic applications.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and maintain post‑training pipelines, from data ingestion through deployment


• Develop reinforcement learning environments, reward models, and evaluation signals


• Debug, optimize, and scale distributed training workloads


• Design and execute research experiments and ablation studies


• Develop benchmarks and evaluation metrics for model capability and alignment

Behavioural Traits

• Ability to work independently in ambiguous problem spaces


• Strong debugging and problem‑solving skills


• Balance of research rigor and engineering execution


• Clear technical communication and collaborative mindset


• Demonstrated learning agility and growth mindset

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (B.S. or B.A.) in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or related STEM field.


• 3 years of experience in machine learning engineering, data science, ML research, or modeling fine‑tuning.


• Programming: Python/C as the primary development language for ML research and engineering.


• Core ML fundamentals: LLM architectures, optimization, and model training fine‑tuning evaluation techniques.

Preferred Qualifications

• Masters or PhD degrees are preferred.


• Hands‑on experience implementing and scaling the full post‑training pipeline for language models, including supervised fine‑tuning and reinforcement learning.


• Previous experience designing and building evaluation frameworks and benchmarks that accurately measure model capability improvements and alignment quality.


• Modeling distillation and quantization experience.

Benefits & Compensation

Intel offers a total compensation package including competitive pay, stock bonuses, and benefit programs which include health, retirement, and vacation. Find out more about the benefits of working at Intel.

Annual Salary Range for jobs which could be performed in the US: $170,500.00 – 240,710.00 USD.

EEO Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, religious creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, military and veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, gender, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by local law, regulation, or ordinance.