Applied AI Researcher, System Self-Improvement

Distyl Inc.

Job Overview

Location

Indiana, USA

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• Distyl AI is at the forefront of revolutionizing enterprise operations by developing production-grade AI systems for Fortune 500 companies. Through a strategic partnership with OpenAI, proprietary software accelerators, and deep enterprise AI expertise, we deliver tangible value to our clients within a quarter. Our innovative solutions have already transformed operations across diverse industries, including insurance, consumer packaged goods, and non-profits. As an Applied AI Researcher specializing in System Self-Improvement, you will play a pivotal role in empowering companies to identify, build, and realize the full potential of their Generative AI investments, often for the first time. We are a customer-centric organization, driven by a commitment to solve real-world problems and deliver measurable financial impact while simultaneously enhancing the daily lives of end-users. Our leadership comprises seasoned professionals from esteemed organizations like Palantir and Apple, and we are backed by prominent investors such as Lightspeed, Khosla, Coatue, Dell Technologies Capital, and influential figures like Nat Friedman (Former CEO of GitHub) and Brad Gerstner (Founder and CEO of Altimeter).
• The System Self-Improvement team at Distyl is dedicated to architecting AI systems that possess the remarkable ability to continuously evaluate and enhance their own performance. As a researcher on this team, you will be instrumental in designing sophisticated feedback-driven systems. These systems will be capable of autonomously detecting their own weaknesses, formulating corrective hypotheses, and implementing improvements through mechanisms such as reflection, retraining, or adaptive workflow adjustments. The ultimate objective is to engineer AI systems that exhibit compounding capabilities through their ongoing usage, becoming more effective and intelligent over time.
• Your work will involve delving into the intricacies of how AI systems can develop and utilize self-models, gaining a profound understanding of when, why, and how they achieve success or encounter failures. You will explore cutting-edge techniques in reflective reasoning, reward modeling, and self-evaluation to foster autonomous evolution within these systems. This role represents a unique opportunity to bridge the fields of reinforcement learning, interpretability, and meta-optimization, paving the way for the pioneering of continuously learning enterprise AI systems.
• We are seeking creative researchers who are not content with merely achieving incremental improvements on benchmarks or optimizing existing processes. Instead, we are looking for individuals who are driven to creatively redefine the very nature of how software is utilized. While our researchers hail from diverse academic backgrounds, they all share a strong research track record, operate with an AI-native mindset, and would find traditional research environments limiting. You will be expected to leverage AI tools in your daily workflow to accelerate your research and development processes, much like you would revolutionize our clients' workflows.
• Key responsibilities will include designing and implementing novel architectures for self-improving AI systems. You will develop mechanisms for continuous performance monitoring, evaluation, and adaptation. This involves creating robust feedback loops that inform system adjustments and improvements. Furthermore, you will research and apply advanced AI techniques, including but not limited to reinforcement learning, meta-learning, and self-supervised learning, to drive system evolution. You will also be responsible for translating complex research concepts into practical, deployable solutions for enterprise clients, demonstrating tangible value and impact.
• Collaboration will be a key aspect of this role, working closely with other research teams, engineering, and product management to integrate self-improvement capabilities into our broader AI product offerings. You will also engage directly with Fortune 500 clients to understand their challenges and showcase the capabilities of our advanced AI systems. Your ability to communicate complex technical ideas clearly and concisely to both technical and non-technical stakeholders will be crucial for success. The ideal candidate will have a strong bias towards demonstrating results through working prototypes and empirical evidence, rather than solely relying on theoretical discussions.
• This role offers a unique opportunity to work on challenging, real-world problems with significant impact. You will have access to state-of-the-art AI models and tools, and the freedom to explore innovative solutions. We foster a mission-driven, fast-paced culture that values curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence, providing a dynamic environment for professional growth and development.

🎯 Requirements

• Proven experience in building or researching feedback-driven systems, such as those involving adaptive evaluators, iterative refinement loops, or performance dashboards that close the feedback loop.
• Expertise in developing and utilizing compound AI systems and agentic collaboration techniques (e.g., ensembling, ReAct, Graph-of-Thoughts), rather than solely focusing on training or fine-tuning individual models.
• A strong research track record, demonstrated through publications in top-tier journals, significant contributions to open-source projects, or a compelling portfolio of independent research work.
• Daily, hands-on experience using AI tools like ChatGPT, Cursor, Perplexity, or similar to accelerate personal and professional workflows.
• Strong programming and data analysis skills, with the ability to build prototypes and conduct rigorous experiments to validate research hypotheses and demonstrate effectiveness to enterprise stakeholders.

🏖️ Benefits

• Competitive base salary range of $130K - $250K, commensurate with experience, location, and level.
• Meaningful equity in a high-growth, venture-backed startup.
• Comprehensive benefits package, including 100% covered medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their dependents.
• 401(k) plan with additional perks, such as commuter benefits and in-office lunch stipends.
• Access to state-of-the-art AI models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and the opportunity to work on challenging, real-world business problems with significant impact.

Skills & Technologies

React

Rails

GitHub

Remote

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Distyl Inc.

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About Distyl Inc.

Distyl is a cloud-native platform designed to simplify and accelerate the development and deployment of machine learning (ML) models. It provides a unified environment for data preparation, model training, versioning, and deployment, enabling data scientists and ML engineers to move from experimentation to production faster. The platform offers features such as automated data pipelines, managed training infrastructure, and scalable model serving. Distyl aims to reduce the complexity and operational overhead associated with MLOps, allowing organizations to focus on building and deploying impactful ML solutions. It supports various ML frameworks and integrates with existing cloud infrastructure.

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