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Manager, Research Scientist

Scale AI San Francisco, CA; New York, NY Full-time Research Posted Jul 24, 2026
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Culture signals in this specific role

Inferred from the employer’s wording in this job description. These role-level signals are separate from the company-wide employee-review scores below.

Cross-functionalThe role explicitly involves collaboration across teams or functions.
Fast-pacedThe wording signals a fast-moving environment with changing priorities.
Deep technical workThe role highlights substantial technical, research, or systems work.
Customer-facingThe role includes direct customer or client interaction.
MentoringMentoring, coaching, or technical leadership is part of the role.

What it’s like to work at Scale AI

AI Data Infrastructure · San Francisco

3.2
Employee Rating
2.9
Work-Life Balance
204
Open Roles
eng-drivenproduct-impactlearningship-fast

What employees love

  • Building critical AI data infrastructure used by OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and the US government
  • Strong compensation for engineers — competitive base + equity

What could be better

  • Work-life balance rated 2.7/5 — long hours common during client deadlines
  • Culture and values scored 2.9/5 — inconsistent management quality
View full Scale AI culture profile →

About the Role

Scale AI accelerates the development of AI systems by providing the data, infrastructure, and tooling that power the most advanced models in the world. Our teams operate at the intersection of cutting-edge research, large-scale engineering, and real-world deployment, partnering with leading frontier labs, enterprises, and government agencies to push Generative AI into new capabilities and applications.

As AI rapidly evolves from static models to dynamic, agentic systems, Scale is building the foundational research, evaluation methodologies, and agent/RL infrastructure that will define this next era. You’ll join a high-impact research organization driving advances in large-language models, post-training, evaluation, and agentic/RL environments, helping shape how next-generation AI is built, measured, and deployed.

As a Research Scientist Manager, you will lead a world-class team of research scientists and engineers, define the research roadmap, and drive execution from early prototyping to deployment. You’ll thrive in a fast-moving environment, balancing deep technical leadership with people management, vision setting, and delivery.

You will:

Ideally you'd have:

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is:
$290,400$363,000 USD

PLEASE NOTE: Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us:

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.

PLEASE NOTE: We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the work-life balance like at Scale AI?
Scale AI has a work-life balance score of 2.9/5 based on employee reviews. This is below average, which may indicate a fast-paced, demanding work environment.
What is Scale AI’s culture like?
Scale AI is characterized by these culture values: eng-driven, product-impact, learning, ship-fast. Based on employee reviews, the company has an overall rating of 3.2/5. Building critical AI data infrastructure used by OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, and the US government
How many open roles does Scale AI have?
Scale AI currently has 204 open roles across departments including engineering, product, sales, and more. Roles are refreshed daily from their careers page.
Is this role remote-friendly?
This role is located in San Francisco, CA; New York, NY. Check the job description above for specific location and remote work details.
Apply for this role at Scale AI →