← All roles

Research Program Manager - Model Development

Reflection· Technical Program Management
Apply on company site
New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, LondonFull-timePosted 5mo ago

About the role

Research Program Managers embed with research and engineering teams to accelerate frontier model development, serving as force multipliers who connect multiple teams and drive decisions to accelerate research velocity in pre-training ML and Data.

Responsibilities

  • Embed within the pre-training ML and Data teams to deeply understand the technical landscape, build trust with researchers and technical leads, and identify where programs and process can have the most impact on research velocity.
  • Drive end-to-end execution of complex, cross-team research initiatives that span data, model architecture, training runs, and evaluation, often without established playbooks.
  • Coordinate the operational rhythm of pre-training research, including experiment prioritization, run scheduling, data readiness, and checkpoint handoffs to downstream teams.
  • Equip research leadership to make decisions quickly by going deep on technical tradeoffs and presenting clear, actionable recommendations rather than status updates.
  • Build lightweight processes that bring structure to unstructured research environments without adding friction. Create coordination mechanisms for cross-team handoffs, config management, and research milestones that replace ad hoc Slack threads with durable, visible systems.
  • Act as the connective tissue between pre-training, mid-training, post-training, and infrastructure teams, ensuring that upstream decisions propagate cleanly and downstream teams are never surprised.

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of experience in technical program management, research operations, or ML engineering, with a track record of building programs from scratch in research or ML-heavy environments.
  • Deep enough technically to engage with researchers on topics like model architecture, scaling laws, data processing pipelines, training dynamics, and optimizer behavior. You don't need to run the experiments yourself, but you need to follow the reasoning and spot risks early in order to discuss tradeoffs.
  • Proven ability to embed within technical teams and earn trust through competence, reliability, and genuine curiosity about the work.
  • Resourceful and high-agency. You navigate ambiguity and shifting priorities without losing momentum.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior technical staff through consistent delivery and well-informed judgment, not authority.
  • Comfortable in high-stakes environments where decisions impact model quality, compute spend, and training timelines measured in weeks or months.
  • Excited to build from zero to one. We are a small, fast-moving team and this role will help define how research program management works at Reflection.
  • Motivated by enabling researchers and engineers to build the world's most capable open-weight AI systems.

Skills

Required:Technical program managementModel architecture awarenessStakeholder managementCross-team coordination

Benefits

  • Top-tier compensation: Salary and equity structured to recognize and retain our talent globally.
  • Stock options: Everyone who joins and contributes to Reflection's success gets to share in the upside through stock options.
  • Health & wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life, with an annual wellness allowance.
  • Meals: Lunch and dinner are provided in the office daily.
  • Life & family: 22 weeks paid parental leave for all new birthing and non-birthing parents, including adoptive and surrogate journeys.
  • Vacation days: Unlimited paid time off in the U.S. and 30 days in the U.K.
  • Sponsorship support: We sponsor visas to help exceptional talent join our team and support long-term immigration pathways where applicable.
  • Team building: We have regular off-sites, happy hours, and team celebrations.
Last updated Oct 1, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Reflection

Building frontier open intelligence

Building frontier open intelligence.

liquid-ai-recruiting-target
Company profileWebsite

More open roles at Reflection