Research Scientist Intern (Foundational Research)

Are you a curious and open-minded individual with an interest in conducting state-of-the-art foundational machine learning research? Thomson Reuters Labs is seeking Research Scientist Interns with a passion for solving complex machine learning problems in a data-rich, complex academic environment driven by real-world problems.

Foundational Research is the dedicated core Machine Learning research division of Thomson Reuters. We are focused on research and development, with a particular focus on advanced algorithms and training techniques for Large Language Models (LLMs). We are building a strong foundation of research capabilities across different areas and are looking for interns who participate in designing, coding, conducting experiments, translating findings into concrete deliverables and engaging with the academic community. Our focus areas are:

• LLM Training (Continued Pretraining, Instruction Tuning, Reinforcement Learning Alignment, Distributed Training, Efficient ML techniques)

• Post-training techniques for planning & reasoning (e.g. LLMs & Knowledge Graphs, Advanced Prompting, CoT pipelines, RAG, Tool use, etc.)

• Data-centric Machine Learning (Synthetic Data, Curriculum Learning, learned data-mixtures, etc.)

• Evaluation (Benchmarks, Human-in-the-loop, red teaming/Adversarial Testing, Hallucination detection, ...)

We work collaboratively both with TR Labs (TR’s applied research division), academic partners at world-leading research institutions and subject matter experts with decades of experience. We experiment, prototype, test, and deliver ideas in the pursuit of smarter and more valuable models trained on an unprecedented wealth of data and powered by state-of-the-art technical infrastructure. Through our unique institutional experience, we have access to an unprecedented number of subject matter experts involved in data collection, testing and evaluation of trained models.

As a Research Scientist Intern, you will work along and learn from a diverse global team of experts. We hire world-leading specialists in ML/NLP/GenAI, as well as Engineering, to drive the company’s leading internal AI model development. You will have the opportunity to publish your research findings as well as contribute to our proprietary AI model research & development. Thomson Reuters Labs is known for consistently delivering successful data-driven Artificial Intelligence solutions in pursuit of academic excellence and support of high-growth products that serve Thomson Reuters customers in new and exciting ways.

The internship duration at Thomson Reuters Labs is typically 4 to 6 months and may be aligned with one or two academic semesters or depending upon your availability.

About the role 

In this opportunity, as a Research Scientist Intern you will:

• Innovate: You will have the opportunity to innovate and create new state-of-the-art ML/NLP/IR/GenAI approaches at the cutting edge of AI research. You will work closely with a Research Scientist to contribute ideas and work on solving real-world challenges using a wealth of data.

• Experiment and Develop: You are involved in the entire research & model development lifecycle, brainstorming, coding, testing, and delivering high-quality reports at leading international academic conferences.

• Collaborate: Working on a collaborative global team of research engineers both within Thomson Reuters and our academic patterns at world-leading universities.

• Communicate: Actively engage in sharing our technical findings with the wider community through contributions to seminars, lectures, conferences and/or the sharing of publications and/or technical assets (data & models).

About you 

You're a fit for the role if your background includes:

Required qualifications: 

• PhD student or recent graduate with research experience in a relevant discipline.

• Publications in top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, ICLR).

• Familiarity with a deep learning framework (e.g. pytorch, jax, tensorflow, …)

• Excellent communication skills to report and present research findings and developments clearly, both orally and in writing.

• Curious and innovative disposition capable of devising novel, well-founded algorithmic solutions to relevant problems.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience working on at least one relevant state-of-the-art research topic (see our focus areas) in large language models (LLMs).

• First author publications in top-tier conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, ICLR).

• Strong software and/or infrastructure engineering skills with supporting evidence.

• Experience training large-scale models over distributed nodes with cloud tools such as Amazon AWS, MS Azure, or Google Cloud.

You will enjoy:

• Learning and development: On-the-job coaching, mentorship and learning from a world-leading researcher as well as the opportunity to work with cutting-edge methods and technologies.

• Plenty of data, compute, and high-impact problems: Our interns get to explore large datasets and discover new capabilities and insights. Thomson Reuters is best known for the globally respected Reuters News agency, but our company is also the leading source of information for legal, corporate, and tax & accounting professionals. We have over 60,000 TBs worth of legal, regulatory, news, and tax data. We also provide access to all major cloud computing platforms to our researchers and engineers.

• Competitive compensation: The opportunity to earn while learning new skills.

#LI-AB1

What’s in it For You?

Do you want to be part of a team helping re-invent the way knowledge professionals work? How about a team that works every day to create a more transparent, just and inclusive future? At Thomson Reuters, we’ve been doing just that for almost 160 years. Our industry-leading products and services include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting and compliance professionals combined with the world’s most global news services – Reuters. We help these professionals do their jobs better, creating more time for them to focus on the things that matter most: advising, advocating, negotiating, governing and informing.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments that celebrate diversity and inclusion. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward. 

Accessibility 

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

Protect yourself from fraudulent job postings click here to know more.

More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on https://thomsonreuters.com.