Applied AI Researcher

Nebius is seeking a Staff or Principal Applied AI Researcher to join a fast growing team building an agent native search platform - the web access layer for AI systems. You can think of this as Google for AI agents: a system designed for machines, not humans. We are building agentic search, where AI systems actively plan, retrieve, evaluate, and refine information rather than simply returning results. We are designing how AI agents - not humans - retrieve, evaluate, and reason over web data in real time, under strict latency and reliability constraints. This means solving retrieval and ranking under entirely new access patterns and at significant scale, with systems operating over constantly changing, unstructured data and serving tens of thousands of production workloads 24 by 7. This role comes with ownership over key parts of our applied AI research direction and system design, with a strong expectation of defining new approaches and shipping measurable impact in production. What you'll work on: Designing agent native retrieval systems optimised for machine consumption rather than human search UX Building systems where LLMs iteratively plan, query, refine, and reason over results Developing ranking and retrieval approaches for multi step, agent driven workflows under real world constraints Your responsibilites: Drive applied research and technical direction across retrieval and ranking systems Design and evolve multi stage retrieval architectures (query understanding, rewriting, reranking, iterative retrieval) Develop methods for grounding LLMs in real time web data at scale Define and implement new evaluation paradigms and metrics for agentic systems, where correctness is not reducible to clicks Lead experimentation on modern retrieval approaches (embeddings, hybrid search, reranking) and bring them into production Analyse trade-offs across relevance, latency, and cost at scale Work closely with engineering to deploy systems in high throughput, low latency environments Own ambiguous problems end to end and contribute to product and research direction Mentor engineers and help raise the technical bar of the team Must haves: 8+ years of experience in applied AI, ML, or software engineering Proven track record of shipping ML or AI systems to production at scale Deep experience with search, retrieval, ranking, recommendation systems, or assistants Strong understanding of modern deep learning, especially transformers and embeddings Experience with LLM integrated or knowledge intensive systems Experience designing evaluation frameworks and metrics for ML systems Strong programming skills in Python and at least one of Go, C++, or similar Ability to operate in a fast moving, product driven environment with high ownership and autonomy Nice to haves Experience with large scale search or recommendation systems Background in agentic AI systems (agents, tool use, autonomous workflows) Experience with RAG, multi step retrieval, or tool use Publications, open source, or similar signals of technical depth and impact Benefits & Perks: Competitive compensation Career growth and learning opportunities Flexibility and ownership Collaborative and innovative culture Opportunity to work on impactful AI projects International environment and talented teams What's it like to work at Nebius: Fast moving - Bold thinking - Constant growth - Meaningful impact - Trust and real ownership - Opportunity to shape the future of AI Equal Opportunity Statement: Nebius is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace and to providing equal employment opportunities in all aspects of employment. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Applicants must be authorized to work in the country in which they apply and will be required to provide proof of employment eligibility as a condition of hire. If you need accommodations during the application process, please let us know.