Research Engineer - Applied AI
About Granica
Granica is an AI research and infrastructure company focused on reliable, steerable representations for enterprise data.
We earn trust through Crunch, a policy-driven health layer that keeps large tabular datasets efficient, reliable, and reversible. On this foundation, we’re building Large Tabular Models—systems that learn cross-column and relational structure to deliver trustworthy answers and automation with built-in provenance and governance.
The Role
The Applied AI Research Team sits at the center of this mission. Your work will take the ideas emerging from fundamental research and turn them into practical algorithms, optimized pipelines, and production-ready systems that operate across petabytes of structured enterprise data.
This is a high-ownership role for engineers who can think like researchers and build like systems experts. You will translate theory into measurable performance improvements and help define the foundations of structured AI.
What You’ll Do
Turn research into real systems
Transform foundational ideas from Granica Research and Prof. Andrea Montanari’s group into scalable algorithms and experimental prototypes.
Build the evaluation harnesses, metrics, and datasets that reveal real signal from research concepts.
Define and refine the metrics that determine progress in structured AI.
Invent and optimize algorithms for structured AI
Develop efficient learning methods for relational, tabular, graph, and enterprise data.
Prototype representation learning architectures and compression-aware models for large-scale structured information.
Build high-performance learning pipelines
Implement fast training and inference loops using PyTorch, JAX, or custom kernels.
Optimize memory, compute, and data-movement paths with a focus on cost, latency, and throughput.
Integrate symbolic, relational, and neural components
Design hybrid learning systems that reason over structured data natively, not through text intermediaries.
Collaborate deeply across teams
Work with Research Scientists to validate hypotheses at scale.
Work with Systems Engineers to integrate your algorithms into Granica’s core data platform.
Work with Product Engineering to ship features that power live enterprise workloads.
Iterate fast and measure everything
Run controlled experiments, analyze performance deltas, and deliver results with clear benchmarks.
Drive the loop from prototype to production, improving the system each cycle.
What You’ll Bring
Technical Depth
Strong background in machine learning, probabilistic modeling, optimization, or distributed learning.
Experience building and tuning algorithms for structured, tabular, graph, or relational data.
Ability to reason from first principles about efficiency, scaling behavior, and information flow.
Systems Ability
Hands-on experience with PyTorch, JAX, TensorFlow, or custom ML kernels.
Strong Python skills and familiarity with systems languages such as Rust, C++, or CUDA.
Experience with large-scale data pipelines, model evaluation frameworks, or distributed systems.
Applied Mindset
Demonstrated ability to turn theoretical concepts into performant, reliable code.
Comfort working in ambiguous research environments while delivering measurable outcomes.
Curiosity for how structure and efficiency reshape the next generation of AI.
Bonus Experience
Structured representation learning, tabular or multimodal models, or relational ML.
Distributed data systems, query engines, or vector/embedding infrastructure.
Open-source contributions or collaborative research bridging theory and production.
Why This Role Matters
The world’s most valuable data is structured. The current form of AI is not.
Your work will help close that gap. You will design the primitives that enable efficient learning at global scale and help build the foundations of structured AI. This role has real ownership, immediate impact, and a long horizon.
Why Granica
Fundamental Research Meets Enterprise Impact. Work at the intersection of science and engineering, turning foundational research into deployed systems serving enterprise workloads at exabyte scale.
AI by Design. Build the infrastructure that defines how efficiently the world can create and apply intelligence.
Real Ownership. Design primitives that will underpin the next decade of AI infrastructure.
High-Trust Environment. Deep technical work, minimal bureaucracy, shared mission.
Enduring Horizon. Backed by NEA, Bain Capital, and various luminaries from tech and business. We are building a generational company for decades, not quarters or a product cycle.
Compensation & Benefits
Competitive salary, meaningful equity, and substantial bonus for top performers
Flexible time off plus comprehensive health coverage for you and your family
Support for research, publication, and deep technical exploration
At Granica, you will shape the fundamental infrastructure that makes intelligence itself efficient, structured, and enduring. Join us to build the foundational data systems that power the future of enterprise AI!