The Applied Reinforcement Learning team is responsible for all reinforcement learning applications across Meta's Family of Apps and Reality Labs. We conduct state-of-the-art industry research in reinforcement learning to bridge the gap between theoretical reinforcement learning and real-world problems. We also own Meta's central reinforcement learning platform, which is also open-sourced as the production ready reinforcement learning platform.


We are seeking Research Scientists to help us with a vision to bring reinforcement learning to large scale real-world systems. Our research scientists have an opportunity to work with top researchers in applied reinforcement learning to conduct industry research on reinforcement learning algorithms with a goal to achieve a better algorithm, design an algorithm in real-world applications, and apply their ideas at an unprecedented scale.

Applied AI Research Scientist - Reinforcement Learning Responsibilities

• Perform research to advance the science and technology of machine learning and reinforcement learning. Devise better data-driven models of human behavior.
• Collaborate with researchers and cross-functional partners including communicating research plans, progress, and results.
• Apply state of the art reinforcement learning technologies to achieve production impact and improve Meta users’ experience.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Has obtained a Ph.D. degree in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Information or Multimedia Retrieval, Reinforcement Learning, Mathematics, or relevant technical field.
• Must obtain work authorization in country of employment at the time of hire and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment.
• Experience with Python, C++, Java or other related language.
• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as Pytorch or Tensorflow.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with reinforcement learning in applied areas beyond simple simulators.
• Demonstrated experience in solving analytical problems using quantitative approaches.
• Experience manipulating and analyzing complex, high-volume, high-dimensionality data from varying sources.
• Experience building systems based on machine learning, reinforcement learning and/or deep learning methods.
• Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as first-authored publications at leading workshops or conferences such as NeurIPS, ICLR, AAAI, RecSys, KDD, IJCAI, CVPR, ECCV, ACL, NAACL, EACL, ICASSP, or similar.
• Demonstrated software engineer experience via an internship, work experience, coding competitions, or widely used contributions in open source repositories (e.g. GitHub).
• Experience working and communicating cross functionally in a team environment.

For those who live in or expect to work from California if hired for this position, please click here for additional information.

About Meta

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics. Meta is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations) in our recruiting processes for candidates with disabilities, long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy-related support. If you need support, please reach out to accommodations-ext@fb.com.

$147,000/year to $208,000/year + bonus + equity + benefits

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.