Applied Research Scientist – AI Sustainable Materials Discovery - IBM Saudi Arabia

Avature is seeking an Applied Research Scientist for AI Sustainable Materials Discovery at IBM Saudi Arabia in Casa Grande, AZ. The role involves developing AI architectures and algorithms for materials discovery, enhancing foundation models for sustainability, and addressing research challenges. Candidates should have a Doctorate in a related field and experience in machine learning, AI models, and research communication. The position emphasizes creativity and tackling complex problems in AI and sustainability.
Position: Applied Research Scientist – AI for Sustainable Materials Discovery - IBM Saudi Arabia

At IBM, work is more than a job - it's a calling:
To build. To design. To code. To consult. To think along with clients and sell. To make markets. To invent. To collaborate. Not just to do something better, but to attempt things you've never thought possible. Are you ready to lead in this new era of technology and solve some of the world's most challenging problems? If so, let's talk.

Your Role and Responsibilities:

We seek applications from innovative researchers with expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence to join our Sustainable Materials team. You will tackle challenges at the forefront of AI, advancing generative and multi-modal models for high-impact applications in materials discovery and sustainability.
• Developing advanced AI architectures and algorithms to train, fine-tune, and apply generative models for multi-modal tasks, directly influencing high-impact sectors.
• Enhancing foundation models for applications in materials discovery and chemistry, with the goal of solving real sustainability challenges.
• Designing and testing single or multi-agent AI systems using cutting-edge benchmarks, or developing solutions tailored to business-critical use cases.

As part of the role, you will need to be comfortable with identifying and defining research challenges, prototyping solutions, designing experimental setups to test certain hypotheses, refining solutions, and communicating findings through patent applications and publications in top-tier conferences.

We seek creative, driven individuals who are comfortable tackling ambiguous challenges, eager to push the limits of what’s possible, and committed to shaping the future of AI and sustainability. Applicants should submit a CV and a one-page cover letter that highlights your experience and passion for the research themes outlined above.

Required Education:

Doctorate Degree

Preferred Education:

Doctorate Degree

Required Technical and Professional Expertise:
• Doctorate Degree in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence), Computational Materials Science, Climate Science, Physics, Mathematics, or closely related field.
• Experience in machine learning, building workflows and AI models in platforms such as Pytorch, Tensor Flow, Ray, etc.
• Strong AI skills in transfer learning, model distillation, surrogate models, reinforcement learning, ideally with NLP applications.
• Research experience in designing and developing domain-specific or generalizable models.
• Demonstrated experience in developing, training, and testing deep neural networks.

Preferred Technical and Professional Experience:
• Strong research skills in natural language processing (NLP).
• Demonstrated experience in developing, training, and testing generative models, such as LLMs or multi-modal foundation models.
• Ability to communicate research ideas clearly and effectively through demonstrated publications and presentations at top-tier AI conferences such as NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, ACL, EMNLP, CVPR, etc.
• Experience with machine learning and deep learning techniques for knowledge base and graph construction in the materials domain.
• Research experience in building and operationalizing AI-based surrogate models for complex materials/molecules.
ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Research is the organic growth engine of IBM and an innovation engine for our customers and partners. As part of this mission, IBM Research anticipates and examines 'What's Next in Computing' to ultimately create and integrate the technologies the world relies upon to solve big challenges and unlock new opportunities. We create and pioneer new markets for IBM, our partners, and customers as exemplified in our ongoing quest to reach practical and large-scale quantum computing.
YOUR

LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that dedication to our clients' success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment every day, all whilst having…