# Research Scientist at OpenRouter

- Company: OpenRouter
- What the company does: The unified interface for every model. Find the best models & prices for your prompts. Backed by a16z and Menlo.
- Company website: https://openrouter.ai
- Type: Startups (AI role)
- Level: Mid level
- Location: Remote (US)
- Work setup: Remote
- Pay: $250K to $285K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-07-14
- Apply by: 2026-10-08
- Apply: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openrouter/8daf0f29-2e78-4ab1-8230-52e3988fe42c
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/openrouter-research-scientist/

## About the role

As a Research Scientist, you will conduct deep, original research that advances how the world understands, evaluates, and routes large language models. You'll work with one of the richest datasets in AI: billions of LLM generations spanning every major model, provider, and use case.

## What they're looking for

- MS or PhD in a quantitative field (machine learning, statistics, computer science, mathematics, computational linguistics, or similar)
- Track record of original research, demonstrated by first-author publications, significant open-source contributions, or equivalent impact in industry research
- Deep expertise in statistics, experimental design, and causal inference. You can design rigorous studies and reason carefully about validity, bias, and generalizability
- Strong programming skills in Python. You can build data pipelines, run large-scale experiments, and prototype models efficiently
- Proficiency in SQL for working with large-scale analytical databases (ClickHouse, BigQuery, or similar)
- Hands-on experience with modern ML/NLP techniques such as LLM evaluation, fine-tuning, embeddings, classification, or reinforcement learning from human feedback

Tags: Engineering