# Reinforcement Learning

Skill · Data Science, Analytics and AI/ML

Canonical page: https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/reinforcement-learning

Reinforcement learning is a branch of machine learning in which an agent learns to make decisions by taking actions in an environment and receiving rewards or penalties, aiming to maximize cumulative reward over time. It underlies applications like game-playing AI (e.g., AlphaGo), robotics control, recommendation systems, and, more recently, fine-tuning large language models via techniques like RLHF. Researchers and engineers use frameworks such as OpenAI Gym, Stable Baselines, and RLlib to develop and test these algorithms.

## Reinforcement Learning in the job market

- Open roles: 86
- Employers hiring: 29
- Median stated pay: $285,000 (middle half $236,000 – $361,000), from 71 of 86 open roles — the 83% that publish a range, annualized to USD. Only some employers state pay, and the ones that do skew to California and New York, where the law requires it.
- Last checked: September 14, 2026

## Asked for alongside Reinforcement Learning

Measured from the 86 open roles that name Reinforcement Learning, not from a curated list.

- [Python](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/python) — 55 roles (64.0%)
- [Machine Learning](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/machine-learning) — 35 roles (40.7%)
- [PyTorch](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/pytorch) — 30 roles (34.9%)
- [Deep Learning](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/deep-learning) — 15 roles (17.4%)
- [SQL](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/sql) — 13 roles (15.1%)
- [TensorFlow](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/tensorflow) — 12 roles (14.0%)
- [C++](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/c-2) — 10 roles (11.6%)
- [Kubernetes](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/kubernetes) — 10 roles (11.6%)

## Seniority of these roles

- Entry: 8 (11%)
- Mid: 6 (8%)
- Senior: 31 (43%)
- Lead / Staff / Principal: 24 (33%)
- Management: 3 (4%)

From 72 roles whose posting states a level.

## Where Reinforcement Learning roles are

- [New York, NY](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/in/new-york-ny) — 19
- [San Francisco, CA](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/in/san-francisco-ca) — 15
- [Santa Clara, CA](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/in/santa-clara-ca) — 11
- [Mountain View, CA](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/in/mountain-view-ca) — 6
- [Fremont, CA](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/in/fremont-ca) — 5
- [Atlanta, GA](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/in/atlanta-ga) — 3

Among the 71 of 86 open roles we could place on a map.

## Roles that use Reinforcement Learning

- [Machine Learning Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/machine-learning-engineer) — 24
- [Software Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/software-engineer) — 16
- [Data Scientist](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/data-scientist) — 5
- [Intern](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/intern) — 3
- [Research Scientist](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/research-scientist) — 3
- [Engineering Manager](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/engineering-manager) — 2

## Employers hiring for Reinforcement Learning

- [Menlo Ventures Portfolio](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/menlo-ventures-portfolio) — 19 open roles
- [XPeng](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/xpeng) — 11 open roles
- [Intuit](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/intuit) — 7 open roles
- [Agility Robotics](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/agility-robotics) — 6 open roles
- [Launch Potato](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/launch-potato) — 4 open roles
- [Motional](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/motional) — 4 open roles

Related skills: [PyTorch](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/pytorch), [Deep Learning](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/deep-learning), [Neural Networks](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/neural-networks), [Machine Learning](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/machine-learning), [TensorFlow](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/tensorflow), [Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/deep-reinforcement-learning), [Multi-Agent Systems](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/multi-agent-systems)

## Open roles requiring Reinforcement Learning (85)

- [Research Staff, LLMs](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/61027f95-da1a-4d89-aa5d-3e13f4b1a6a6/research-staff-llms-at-deepgram) at [Deepgram](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/deepgram) — San Francisco, CA · Remote, $150,000 – $250,000
- [Ph.D. Research Data Scientist, GenAI](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/426c85d1-ef7c-479e-ad84-9836283fdd72/ph-d-research-data-scientist-genai-at-american-international-group) at [American International Group](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/american-international-group) — Atlanta, GA
- [Sr Data Scientist - Supply Chain Optimization (Middle Mile)](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/b8133343-147f-4eb7-8006-42803fe083b4/sr-data-scientist-supply-chain-optimization-middle-mile-at-target) at [Target](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/target) — Full-time, $98,000 – $211,000
- [Principal AI Researcher](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/a4b54056-34d1-4ea3-934f-9df9a6d99f2e/principal-ai-researcher-at-workday) at [Workday](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/workday) — Full-time, $228,000 – $342,000
- [Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Agentic AI](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/2047c7ca-ce3c-48d2-8be9-cf8519b3ada5/principal-machine-learning-engineer-agentic-ai-at-zillow) at [Zillow](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/zillow) — Full-time, Remote-USA, $194,200 – $326,600
- [AI Research Scientist, Agentic Systems (Remote)](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/5abf9d5e-85bd-467c-8e51-27ed84c10084/ai-research-scientist-agentic-systems-remote-at-crowdstrike) at [CrowdStrike](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/crowdstrike) — Full-time, USA - Remote, $120,000 – $180,000
- [Machine Learning Engineer, Next-Generation Recommendation Systems](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/19ba6fe3-c337-438f-9091-c36d01ab5615/machine-learning-engineer-next-generation-recommendation-systems-at-unity) at [Unity](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/unity) — $127,400 – $191,200
- [AI Robotics Researcher Intern (Dexterous Manipulation)](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/08133ed8-6a04-4457-9f3f-2b5631cdbd26/ai-robotics-researcher-intern-dexterous-manipulation-at-nio) at [NIO](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/nio) — Internship, San Jose, CA, $38 – $46 / hour
- [Senior Machine Learning Scientist - CRM Marketing](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/5fa4f39a-32b7-4349-9b3d-0ab99fbfe0aa/senior-machine-learning-scientist-crm-marketing-at-expedia-group) at [Expedia Group](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/expedia-group) — Full-time, Seattle, WA, $173,000 – $242,500
- [Manager 2, AI Science](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/d14e1d6d-59e9-4e73-8dbb-6513debae08a/manager-2-ai-science-at-intuit) at [Intuit](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/intuit) — Mountain View, CA, $237,500 – $321,500

All 85 open roles: https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs?skills=f4a1449b-6065-4316-9d37-e0eebbd663da