AI Researcher - Efficient AI (Contractor)

HIGHLIGHTSHybridTemporary EmployeeEmerging Technology Department LOCATIONSanta Clara CA Step into the innovative world of LG Electronics. As a global leader in technology LG Electronics is dedicated to creating innovative solutions for a better life. Our brand promise Lifes Good embodies our commitment to ensuring a happier life for all. We have a rich history spanning over six decades and a global presence in over 290 locations.Our diverse portfolio includes Home Appliance Solutions Media Entertainment Solutions Vehicle Solutions and Eco Solutions. Our management philosophy Jeong-do Management embodies our commitment to high ethical standards and transparent operations. Grounded in the principles of Customer-Value Creation and People-Oriented Management these values shape our corporate culture fostering creativity diversity and integrity. At LG we believe in the power of collective wisdom through an inclusive work environment.Join us and become a part of a company that is shaping the future of technology.At LG we strive to make Life Good for Everyone.About the Team - LGs Emerging Technology LabLGs Emerging Technology Lab ETL is the catalyst for technological innovation within LGs CTO organization. Located in the Silicon Valley and New Jersey we drive excellence across CTO organizations and business units by pioneering in select emerging technology areas. As the Center of Excellence CoE we define and shape key technology domains setting strategic directions that foster impactful internal and external partnerships to deliver measurable business value.About the OpportunityWe are seeking a Contract AI Researcher - Efficient AI to join LGs Emerging Technology Lab in Santa Clara CA hybrid. This is an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of AI efficiency research developing technologies that make modern LLMs VLMs multimodal models and AI agents faster smaller and more deployable in real-world environments.In this role you will explore cutting-edge areas such as model compression quantization efficient inference reasoning optimization and next-generation AI architectures. Your work will help enable advanced AI capabilities across LGs future products and platforms including AI PCs edge devices robotics and intelligent vehicle systems.The ideal candidate enjoys bridging research and implementation transforming ideas from the latest scientific literature into working prototypes and measurable improvements. You will have the opportunity to collaborate with experienced researchers contribute to publications and intellectual property and help shape the future of efficient on-device AI.Responsibilities• Research prototype and implement AI methods that improve model efficiency inference performance and deployment feasibility on constrained devices.• Optimize modern LLMs SLMs VLMs multimodal models and agentic workloads across post-training inference and deployment workflows.• Propose and evaluate novel compression methods PTQ QAT pruning low-rank approximation etc for on-device LLMVLM enablement.• Devise approaches to address challenges related to long-context inference and KV cache compression in the context of reasoning and agentic applications.• Develop gradient-free and backpropagation-free methods for model merging compression and efficiency-driven optimization.• Implement and evaluate emerging efficient architectures and modules including MoE SSMs hybrid models Looped Transformers etc.• Prototype inference-time optimization methods such as speculative decoding constrained decoding low-latency generation and kernel-level optimization.• Build experimental pipelines perform evaluations on standardized language vision reasoning and agentic benchmarks.• Contribute to publications technical reports open-source releases invention disclosures and IP submissions where appropriate.Required Qualifications• M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science Computer Engineering Machine Learning Mathematics or a related technical field. Relevant post-graduate research andor industry experience is preferred but not required.• Research or engineering experience in ML efficient AI model optimization or AI systems.• Strong programming ability in Python and experience with PyTorch or a comparable deep learning framework.• Hands-on experience with modern LLMs SLMs VLMs multimodal models or generative AI systems.• Ability to read research papers implement technical methods run experiments and communicate results clearly.• Comfortable working in a fast-moving and ambiguous technical environment.• Strong written and verbal communication skills for reports presentations demos and technical documentation.Ways to Stand Out• Publications in reputable venues in ML andor systems space e.g. ICML ICLR NeurIPS ACL COLM EMNLP MLSys MICRO etc.• Experience with modern LLMVLM inference and deployment frameworks such as llama.cpp GGUF vLLM SGLang TensorRT-LLM or related systems.• Experience with efficiency-aware post-training or finetuning methods such as PTQ QAT LoRA distillation instruction tuning DPO OPD RLVR or reasoning-oriented adaptation.• Experience with low-level kernel implementations and on-device acceleration.• Familiarity with emerging architectures such as MoE SSMs hybrid attention or Looped Transformers.• Experience with AI-assisted optimization multi-agent systems or agentic-based workflows for Efficient AI and hardwaresoftware co-design.Contract This is expected to be a one-year contract position with the potential for extension based on business needs and performance.Third-Party Agency Notice We are not accepting unsolicited resumes or candidate submission from staffing agencies or search firms for this position. Please do not contact us regarding this opportunity. HybridRecruiting Range84.13-91.34 USDBenefits Offered Full-Time EmployeesNo-cost employee premiums for you and your eligible dependents for competitive medical dental vision and prescription benefits.Auto enrollment with immediate vesting of competitive company matching contributions in a 401k Retirement Savings Plan with several investmentoptions.Generous Paid Time Off program that includes company holidays and a combined bank of paid sick and vacation time. Performance based Short-Term Incentives varies by role.Access to confidential mental health resources to help you and your loved ones improve your quality of life. Personal fitness goal incentives.Family orientated benefits such as paid parental leave and support for families raising children with learning social behavioral challenges or developmental disabilities.Group Rate Life and Disability Insurance.Benefits Offered TemporaryContractors Eligible for the relevant benefit programs offered through our partner agencies.Privacy Notice to California ApplicantsApplicants who need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the hiring process may contact our team by phone at 973-477-7090 orsupportlg4me.freshdesk.com. This email and phone number will only reply to accommodation requests and is not intended for general employment inquiries.All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race color religion sex including pregnancy sexual orientation or gender identity national origin age disability genetic information protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal state or local law.In addition to the above LG believes that pay transparency is a key part of diversity equity and inclusion. Our salary ranges take into account many factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skillset experience licensure certifications internal equity and other business needs. While we consider geographic pay differentials in final offers because we operate in many geographies where applicable the salary range listed may not reflect all geographic differentials applied.