Senior Applied Scientist
Adobe
San Jose, California
Full-Time
$142,700
RemoteSenior
Changing the world through digital experiences is what Adobe’s all about. We give everyone—from emerging artists to global brands—everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences! We’re passionate about empowering people to create beautiful and powerful images, videos, and apps, and transform how companies interact with customers across every screen.
We’re on a mission to hire the very best and are committed to creating exceptional employee experiences where everyone is respected and has access to equal opportunity. We realize that new ideas can come from anywhere in the organization, and we know the next big idea could be yours!
Adobe Firefly’s Applied Science & Machine Learning (ASML) group is looking for research scientists and engineers focused on post-training, alignment, and distillation of large-scale generative AI models. Our goal is to push the frontier of generative AI while ensuring models are safe, efficient, aligned with user intent, and deployable at scale.
We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), direct preference optimization (DPO/GRPO), supervised fine-tuning (SFT), and model distillation / efficiency methods. This work directly impacts the quality, efficiency, and safety of Firefly’s image and video generation models, enabling next-generation creative workflows for millions of users.
As an Applied Scientist at Adobe, you will join a world-class team of applied researchers and engineers building the future of digital experiences. You will have the opportunity to innovate across the full post-training stack, collaborate across data, modeling, and product, and see your work ship to customers worldwide.
Job Responsibilities
Conduct innovative research and development in post-training alignment and model distillation for large-scale generative AI models.
Design and evaluate techniques such as RLHF, DPO/GRPO, SFT, reward modeling, and preference optimization to improve instruction-following, controllability, and safety.
Develop efficient distillation, compression, and inference acceleration methods to make frontier models deployable at scale.
Collaborate with researchers, engineers, and product teams to transfer post-training innovations into Adobe products.
Build and maintain pipelines to evaluate generative models across quality, efficiency, and safety metrics.
Convert research ideas/papers into production-ready implementations in Python and modern ML toolkits.
Provide technical mentorship and guidance to peers and junior researchers.
What you'll need to succeed
Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
Strong hands-on experience with large-scale generative AI training and post-training (SFT, RLHF, DPO/GRPO, distillation).
Familiarity with diffusion models, transformers, or other state-of-the-art generative architectures.
Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate across cross-functional teams.
Strong coding and prototyping ability in Python, PyTorch, and ML infrastructure tools.
Working with product teams on technology transfers
Good publication record in Computer Science, AI/ML or related fields
#FireflyGenAI
About Adobe
Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.
Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.
Let’s Adobe together
At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.
Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.
Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations@adobe.com or call +1 408-536-3015.
AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.
At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.
Expected Pay Range:
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $142,700 -- $270,950 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process. In California, the pay range for this position is $187,100 - $270,950At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).
In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.
State-Specific Notices:
California:
Fair Chance Ordinances
Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.
Colorado:
Application Window Notice
If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.
Massachusetts:
Massachusetts Legal Notice
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.