Job Description

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

About The Role:

We are looking for a researcher/engineer with deep expertise in large language models (LLMs), reasoning, and multimodal AI. You will help design and develop methods that enable intelligent systems to make robust, explainable, and context-aware decisions. This role sits at the intersection of advanced research and applied engineering, with direct impact on building real-world AI capabilities.

What You'll Do:

• Research and prototype new methods to extend LLMs with reasoning capabilities
• Develop and optimize multimodal pipelines combining text, vision, and structured data
• Adapt and scale models for real-time, safe, and efficient performance
• Define evaluation strategies to measure robustness, reliability, and uncertainty in reasoning
• Work cross-functionally with research and engineering teams to bring ideas into production

Minimum Qualifications

• Proficiency in Python and modern deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, or TensorFlow)
• Strong foundations in machine learning and reasoning algorithms
• Experience with scaling and optimizing LLMs for efficiency (e.g., distillation, quantization, inference optimization)
• Excellent problem-solving and collaboration skills
• A strong background in transformer-based models and LLMs
• Hands-on experience with multimodal ML (e.g., vision-language, text + spatiotemporal data)
• Solid understanding of probabilistic methods, uncertainty modeling, or decision-making under uncertainty
• Proven ability to translate research into practical implementations

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working on real-time or safety-critical AI systems
• Publications in top ML/AI conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR)
• Contributions to open-source ML frameworks or toolkits
• Curiosity and drive to explore explainable and reliable AI reasoning

US Salary Range
$160,000—$210,000

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA-eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long-term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after-tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal-opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.