Principal Applied Scientist, Generative AI

Remote-USA · Remote · full time · Lead / Staff / Principal

$181,800 – $305,700

Listed on Zillow’s own careers site. You apply with them directly — we never stand between you and the employer.

What this role is

Lead the design and deployment of reinforcement learning systems that align large language models with user value and safety objectives at Zillow. This principal-level role suits experienced applied scientists who can own end-to-end post-training strategies and mentor others while shipping models into production.

Our summary, not Zillow’s wording. The full posting is on their site.

Skills this role names

What they ask for

Required

PhD or equivalent in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Statistics, or related field
Expertise in post-training techniques including DPO, RLHF, RLAIF, and preference modeling
Experience evaluating and monitoring aligned models with win-rate experiments and safety metrics
Strong understanding of modern transformer-based LLMs and orchestration frameworks
Experience working cross-functionally with engineering, product, and compliance teams
Technical leadership and mentorship capabilities
Ability to communicate complex technical ideas to both expert and non-expert audiences

Nice to have

Experience in high-stakes domains such as marketplaces, finance, healthcare, or regulated verticals
Background in bandits or other reinforcement learning applications
Open-source contributions or external thought leadership through publications or talks
Non-traditional background with transferable skills