Research Scientist

Overview

Waabi, founded by AI pioneer and visionary Raquel Urtasun, is an AI company building the next generation of self-driving technology. With a world class team and an innovative approach that unleashes the power of AI to “drive” safely in the real world, Waabi is bringing the promise of self-driving closer to commercialization than ever before. Waabi is backed by best-in-class investors across the technology, logistics and the Canadian innovation ecosystem. 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

Responsibilities

• Lead and contribute to AI research projects, pushing the frontiers of the field by developing new algorithms for our autonomy system and state-of-the-art simulator.
• Work on a diverse set of problems related to self-driving, such as perception, motion forecasting, controls, sensor simulation, scenario generation, behavior modeling, mapping, localization, intelligent data mining & analysis, and safe deployment.
• Develop innovative solutions to problems by leveraging the latest advances in AI, including transformers, foundational models, LLMs/VLMs, generative modeling, imitation/reinforcement learning, inverse rendering, etc.
• Support deploying solutions to our production systems, collaborating closely with platform teams to ensure seamless integration of research findings into production systems.
• Stay up-to-date and advance beyond the state-of-the-art in artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, and self-driving technologies.
• Champion engineering excellence, ensuring high-quality, well structured and tested code.
• Submit and publish work externally at top machine learning, computer vision, and robotics conferences (NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, CVPR, etc.) and post to our company blog.

Qualifications

• Masters/PhD degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Robotics and/or similar technical field(s) of study. Exceptional Bachelor’s students will also be considered.
• Demonstrated research experience through previous internships, work experience, research projects, and papers at top conferences.
• Strong quantitative background and coursework in or working knowledge of linear algebra, calculus, and probability.
• Proficient in reading and coding in Python.
• Open-minded and collaborative team player with willingness to help others.
• Passionate about self-driving technologies, solving hard problems, and creating innovative solutions.

Bonus Points

• Previous experience in self-driving technology.
• Experience in shipping machine learning features/models into production.
• Proven track record of mentoring junior researchers or engineers.
• Proficiency in Pytorch, Rust, C++ and/or CUDA.

Compensation

The US yearly salary range for this role is: $158,000 - $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 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. 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.