Senior AI Research Scientist
Join Zenth Advanced Research, Aevum Zenth's core R&D division, to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence. You'll lead novel research in large-scale neural architectures, multi-modal reasoning, and autonomous systems — translating frontier discoveries into products that power our 400+ subsidiaries worldwide.
At Zenth Advanced Research, we operate at the bleeding edge of AI science. As a Senior AI Research Scientist, you'll lead a research stream focused on next-generation architectures and reasoning capabilities. This is not an applied ML role — it's a pure research position with the infrastructure, compute budget, and freedom to pursue high-risk, high-reward science.
Your work will directly inform Zenth's AI platforms powering everything from autonomous logistics to precision medicine. We publish at top venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL), maintain open-source contributions, and file 200+ patents annually across our divisions.
What You'll Own
- ✓ Lead a 3–5 person research team investigating novel neural architectures, training paradigms, and inference optimizations for foundation models at scale.
- ✓ Design and execute research experiments on our 15,000+ GPU cluster, publishing results at NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, and similar top-tier venues.
- ✓ Develop multi-modal reasoning systems capable of cross-domain transfer between vision, language, and scientific domains.
- ✓ Drive the technical strategy for AI safety, alignment, and robustness — critical across all Zenth divisions from aerospace to healthcare.
- ✓ Translate research breakthroughs into engineering specs for Zenth Digital Systems and Aevum Robotics Labs, bridging the research-to-production gap.
- ✓ Mentor junior researchers, contribute to hiring, and shape the technical culture of the Advanced Research division.
Required Qualifications
- ✓ Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Computational Neuroscience, Mathematics, or a closely related field (or equivalent research experience).
- ✓ 7+ years of professional research experience in AI/ML, with a strong publication record at top-tier venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, etc.).
- ✓ Deep expertise in at least one area: transformer architectures, reinforcement learning, generative models, neural architecture search, or optimization theory.
- ✓ Proficiency in PyTorch or JAX, with experience scaling training across multi-GPU / multi-node setups using distributed computing frameworks.
- ✓ Proven ability to lead independent research projects from formulation through experimentation, analysis, and publication.
- ✓ Excellent written and verbal communication skills; comfortable presenting complex technical work to both researchers and executives.
Preferred Qualifications
- ★ Industry experience at a top AI lab (Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR, OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) or equivalent.
- ★ Experience with large-scale training (100B+ parameter models) and infrastructure (custom kernels, distributed training, efficient attention variants).
- ★ Contributions to open-source AI frameworks or datasets used by the broader research community.
- ★ Interdisciplinary experience: e.g., applying AI to scientific discovery, robotics, materials science, or drug discovery.
We provide world-class compute infrastructure and tooling so you can focus on science, not infrastructure.
Compute & Infrastructure
Research Tools
Example Research Flow
Our process is designed to be thorough yet respectful of your time — typically 4–5 stages over 3–4 weeks.
Recruiter Screen (30 min)
A casual video call with our talent team to discuss your background, motivations, and the role. We'll cover logistics, compensation expectations, and answer your questions.
Virtual · Week 1Technical Deep-Dive (60 min)
A paired session with a senior researcher. You'll walk us through a past research project — your intuition, design choices, results, and what you'd do differently. This is collaborative, not an exam.
Virtual · Week 1–2Research Seminar & Q&A (45 min)
You'll present a 30-minute talk on your research to our AI division. Afterward, we'll have an open discussion about your approach and ideas for future work at Zenth.
On-site in Munich · Week 2–3Collaborative Coding & Architecture Exercise (90 min)
Working alongside a team member, you'll design a solution to an open-ended research engineering problem — think custom training loops, novel data pipelines, or model architecture prototyping.
On-site · Week 2–3Leadership & Values Conversation (30 min)
A final discussion with the VP of AI Research and a division leader about research philosophy, team building, and how your work aligns with Zenth's mission across divisions.
Virtual · Week 3–4Competitive Compensation
€145K–€210K base salary, annual performance bonus (15–25%), and significant equity grants in the holding company.
Flexible Workspace
Hybrid model: 2–3 days in our state-of-the-art Munich lab, with unlimited remote days. Home office stipend of €5,000.
Unlimited Research Budget
Access to our 15,000+ GPU cluster, custom HPC resources, and an annual $50K personal research budget with no approval chain.
Learning & Development
$15K annual education budget. Fully funded conferences, workshops, sabbaticals, and partnerships with top universities.
Health & Wellness
Premium health insurance for you and dependents, mental health support, 28 days PTO, plus 10 company holidays.
Relocation Support
Full relocation package including visa sponsorship, flights, 30 days temporary housing, and €10K settling-in allowance.
Time Off & Parental Leave
Unlimited PTO policy (minimum 25 days). 16 weeks paid parental leave for all parents, plus return-to-work ramp-up program.
Global Mobility
Opportunities to rotate between our Munich, Tokyo, Geneva, and New York research hubs. Fully sponsored annual home country visit.
Zenth Advanced Research is the scientific heart of Aevum Zenth. Our team of 200+ researchers — including Turing Award winners, Fields Medalists, and leaders from Google DeepMind, FAIR, OpenAI, and academic institutions — works on fundamental AI problems with the ambition of solving humanity's hardest challenges.
The division operates as an internal research university with four labs:
- ✓Foundation Models Lab — Scaling laws, pre-training, and inference optimization for trillion-parameter models.
- ✓AI Alignment & Safety Lab — Value learning, interpretability, and robustness for deployment-critical AI systems.
- ✓Scientific AI Lab — Applying AI to drug discovery, materials science, climate modeling, and protein engineering.
- ✓Autonomous Systems Lab — World models, planning, and embodied AI for robotics and aerospace applications.
As a Senior AI Research Scientist, you'll have the autonomy to shape your research agenda, collaborate with researchers across all Zenth divisions, and see your work deployed across products reaching millions of users.
Aevum Zenth is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any legally protected characteristic.
If you need accommodations during the application or interview process, please let us know — we're happy to support you.