Research Engineer: market
A Research Engineer bridges research and engineering: implements and scales model experiments, builds training and evaluation infrastructure, and turns research results into working systems. We currently track 1 148 open positions for this role, 1 107 of them fresh. Postings require strong Python and PyTorch, distributed GPU training, ML math, reading papers and careful experimental methodology; often publications or a PhD. By co-occurrence in requirements, Python, PyTorch, LLM and C++ appear most often. 25% of the postings allow fully remote work. Below is a live slice of the Research Engineer market: geography, seniority, adjacent stack and sources.
The Research Engineer market currently has 1,148 open roles, 1,107 of them freshly observed. Median salary $11,916/mo.
25% of Research Engineer postings allow fully remote work; the share counts only postings that state the format.
⚠ salary known for 53 of 1148 jobs; remote share from 904 with a stated format; 1107 counted as fresh observations; trend and hiring difficulty are not shown
Timeline: postings and sources
How many Research Engineer postings appeared each week since 4 May, and from how many sources. The second line separates market growth from coverage growth: a jump in the week new sources were connected means we started seeing more, not that the market grew.
New postings and active sources per week
Sources over the period: 93
New sources connected: 11 May +2 · 18 May +1 · 25 May +5 · 1 Jun +5 · 15 Jun +1 · 22 Jun +5 · 29 Jun +13 · 6 Jul +9 · 13 Jul +7 · 20 Jul +8 · 27 Jul +7 · 3 Aug +2 · 10 Aug +2 · 17 Aug +1 · 31 Aug +2 · 14 Sept +1 · 21 Sept +4 · 28 Sept +7 · 5 Oct +1 · 12 Oct +3
Week = posting first-seen date, all statuses; postings are selected by the same rule as this page's counter. Sources are distinct collection channels; their names are not published.
Remote work over time
Share of Research Engineer postings offering fully remote work, per week.
Remote postings, %
The share is among postings that state a format (remote, hybrid, office). Weeks with fewer than 10 such postings are left blank.
Technologies over time
How the share of Research Engineer postings mentioning each of the top technologies changed.
Postings mentioning the technology, %
Share among postings with a tagged stack; the series starts on 10 Aug: earlier stack tags were assigned differently. Weeks with fewer than 20 tagged postings are left blank.
Countries over time
How the share of Research Engineer postings in each of the top countries changed, per week.
Postings in the country, %
Share among postings with a known country; the chart shows the five countries with the most postings over six months. Weeks with fewer than 20 postings with a known country are left blank. A rising share can mean a newly connected source in that country rather than market growth.
Demand and observed supply: Research Engineer
| Open demand | 1,148 |
| Observed supply | — not published |
⚠ candidates matching a vacancy are not counted yet: demand and the observed pool are shown
Salary distribution: Research Engineer
One in ten earns under $6,666, one in ten over $21,166. Half the market falls between $8,333 and $16,666. Sample: 53.
The range histogram for Research Engineer uses only postings with an explicit compensation range; the median is computed over the same sample.
Demand geography: Research Engineer
| country | jobs |
|---|---|
| US | 581 |
| GB | 146 |
| FR | 42 |
| SG | 29 |
| CA | 24 |
| CH | 23 |
| IN | 22 |
| DE | 20 |
| KR | 20 |
| JP | 15 |
The top country for Research Engineer demand is the US (581 positions).
⚠ job counts only: salary by country is not published
Used together with
In Research Engineer requirements the most frequently named skills and technologies are Python, PyTorch, LLM and C++.
Demand by grade: Research Engineer
| grade | jobs |
|---|---|
| principal | 157 |
| senior | 153 |
| lead | 68 |
| junior | 33 |
| middle | 20 |
Senior-and-above is about 88% of 431 Research Engineer postings with an explicit grade.
⚠ demand side only: the grade of the observed pool is unknown for most of it
Employers: Research Engineer
Demand is spread across 428 employers. The largest accounts for 8.4%, the top ten for 28.8%; the remaining 71.2% is long tail.
| share | value |
|---|---|
| top-1 | 8.4% |
| top-3 | 18.2% |
| top-10 | 28.8% |
| long tail | 71.2% |
Research Engineer openings come from 428 distinct employers; the largest one accounts for only 8.4% of postings — the market is not tied to a single hirer.
⚠ names are not shown: staffing agencies and end employers are not yet told apart by the classifier
Where Zorky sees this market
Observed across 50 sources; the largest accounts for 26.7% — this market does not rest on a single channel.
Research Engineer postings arrive mostly from ATS & career sites and job boards & aggregators.
Recent openings: Research Engineer
- Alignment Red Team - Research Engineer/Research Scientist · GB
- Research Scientist / Engineer — Multimodal Agent · GB
- AI Research Engineer · US · $10,416
- Junior Research Scientist- Cybersecurity · US
- AI Research Scientist - Fully Remote · GB
- XR World Context Research Scientist · CH
- Research Scientist, Applied AI · IN
- Senior Research Scientist, AI & Workforce Intelligence · US · $11,667
Adjacent markets
⚠ adjacent markets for comparison are not defined yet
How this is measured
- Vacancy
- an open job that cleared the quality gate and lists at least two technologies
- Observed candidate
- a candidate whose stack contains this technology; an aggregate — not a single record leaves the perimeter
- Matchable candidate
- not counted yet
- Window
- jobs open at the moment the snapshot was built
About the data
- Some breakdowns are hidden: their data coverage is not yet sufficient.
- Statistics are shown only where the sample clears a quality gate.
- A missing block does not mean a value of zero.
Breakdowns currently hidden: 8.
Data as of 2026-10-24
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about the Research Engineer role — short answers from the same data slice.
What does a Research Engineer do?
A Research Engineer bridges research and engineering: implements and scales model experiments, builds training and evaluation infrastructure, and turns research results into working systems.
Which skills do Research Engineer postings require?
Postings require strong Python and PyTorch, distributed GPU training, ML math, reading papers and careful experimental methodology; often publications or a PhD. In the current slice, Python, PyTorch, LLM and C++ appear in requirements most often.
Do Research Engineer positions require a PhD?
Not necessarily: unlike Research Scientist, strong engineering experience with models and training infrastructure often substitutes for a degree here.
How remote-friendly are Research Engineer jobs?
25% of postings with an explicit format allow fully remote work; the slice tracks 1 148 open positions.
Get the full Research Engineer market details
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