San Francisco, United States of America Hybrid USD 195000-230000/year

Onton is hiring a Staff Research Engineer

About the Role

Shape the future of decision-making AI by joining a team building a neurosymbolic agent that learns continuously from real-world interactions. Our system goes beyond traditional models, grounding intelligence in compositional structure to deliver meaningful context for better user choices—starting in e-commerce and expanding from there.

What You’ll Do

  • Design and implement a neurosymbolic architecture that integrates symbolic reasoning with deep learning to improve accuracy and reduce hallucination
  • Scale the core AI infrastructure to support over 1 billion annual searches while maintaining performance and reliability
  • Conduct rigorous, data-driven experiments to explore and refine emergent behaviors in the agent
  • Transform early-stage insights into production-grade systems that are robust, maintainable, and efficient
  • Address foundational limitations in current AI—such as context window constraints and catastrophic forgetting—through architectural innovation
  • Collaborate closely with researchers and engineers to iterate quickly and ship high-quality code

What We’re Looking For

  • Proven experience in software development, machine learning, or research engineering with a strong track record of building and deploying complex systems
  • Deep familiarity with modern AI paradigms, particularly hybrid neurosymbolic approaches and their practical implementation
  • Hands-on mindset—you value shipping working code as much as conceptual breakthroughs
  • Preference for collaborative, fast-paced environments where ideas move quickly from concept to deployment
  • Ability to work iteratively, balancing long-term vision with short-term deliverables
  • Strong implementation skills with a focus on correctness, scalability, and maintainability

Preferred Background

  • Advanced degree (PhD or Master’s) in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Linguistics, or a related field
  • Or equivalent research experience demonstrating depth in AI system design and experimentation

Work Environment

Based initially in San Francisco with a hybrid model requiring three days per week in office, the role offers a path to full remote work after one year, provided availability during Pacific Time hours. We believe in-person collaboration fuels creativity and strong team dynamics, especially in early stages. Our culture values builders who care deeply about product excellence, accessibility, and inclusive collaboration.

We are committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status. We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in accordance with applicable laws and provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

Required Skills
neurosymbolic AIworld modelinglogical consistency systemsRAGAI architecture designmachine learningempirical AI researchsoftware engineeringresearch engineeringnon-statistical AI approaches machine learningAI researchneurosymbolic AIempirical researchsoftware engineeringresearch engineeringimplementationnon-statistical AI
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About company
Onton

AI shopping assistant and image search engine for home decor. Type like you speak or search by image - we'll find it across 100+ retailers instantly.

Onton is a next-generation search and discovery engine. We’re a tight-knit San Francisco-based team building the future of shopping.

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Job Details
Department Engineering
Category data
Posted a year ago