# Member of Technical Staff - RL Algorithms at Vmax

- Company: Vmax
- What the company does: Vmax is automating reinforcement learning. We transform proprietary data and evals into new sets of environments. We refine agents on new examples of the tasks they are intended to perform. Backed by South Park Commons.
- Company website: https://vmax.ai
- Type: Startups (AI role)
- Level: Senior
- Location: San Francisco
- Work setup: On-site
- Pay: $300K to $500K base salary per year (USD)
- Posted: 2026-05-20
- Apply by: 2026-10-08
- Apply: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/vmax/jobs/4252700009
- Page: https://www.1752.vc/careers/jobs/vmax-member-of-technical-staff-rl-algorithms/

## About the role

RL has become the de-facto method of post-training LLMs. We are limited by the sample efficiency of the current policy gradient algorithms in use today, and are looking for a talented researcher to weave together pre-LLM and post-LLM approaches to learning from experience.

## What they're looking for

- PhD or equivalent experience in machine learning, reinforcement learning, or a closely related field
- Track record of research excellence, as demonstrated by publications, open source work, deployed AI systems, or other substantial technical contributions
- Deep understanding of modern machine learning, especially reinforcement learning, representation learning, and large language models
- Strong familiarity with LLM post-training methods
- Experience designing and running rigorous ML experiments, including ablations, baselines, evaluation design, and failure analysis
- Experience with large-scale ML infrastructure, distributed training, experiment tracking, data pipelines, and debugging unstable training runs

Tags: Research and Engineering