Hybrid Lead Research Engineer

at KOG

• Job title: Lead Research Engineer
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Senior
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Postgraduate Degree
• Tech skills: Distributed Systems, PyTorch
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Paris, France

About the role

• Lead Research Engineer at Kog, driving the roadmap and technical strategy for innovative AI solutions. Collaborating closely with the CEO to translate vision into actionable plans.

Responsibilities

• Own the Roadmap: Take high-level scientific directives and abstract concepts from the CEO to define concrete objectives and convert them into a structured, actionable research roadmap.
• Architect the 10x leap: Lead the engineering efforts to design and train our proprietary models, ensuring they are optimized for our inference engine and balanced for performance (quality vs. latency).
• Hardware-Software Co-design: Collaborate deeply with the GPU Engineering stream to influence model design. You will provide the feedback loop that allows us to structure models specifically to exploit our latest kernel optimizations and memory hierarchy breakthroughs.
• Accountability: You are fully accountable for the delivery. You ensure that we don't just have a plan, but that we execute it with precision and velocity.
• Strategic Contribution: You are capable of diving into the training codebase to unblock the team or tackle critical architectural challenges when necessary.
• Lead by example: You maintain a deep understanding of the stack (Training Infra, PyTorch/JAX, Distributed Systems) to conduct code reviews and guide technical decisions, ensuring quality without being the bottleneck.
• Deep-dive optimization: Spearhead the resolution of complex training issues (convergence stability, distributed training efficiency, data pipeline bottlenecks) to ensure our experiments are rigorous and fast.
• System-level creativity: Leverage your deep understanding of Deep Learning and Hardware to find architectural solutions that maximize our specific inference engine capabilities.
• Manage and Coach: Manage a team of researchers and engineers (~5 people). You act as a "Head Coach" with the mandate to compose your squad: you define the roles, mentor high-performers, and make necessary adjustments to ensure the team meets our high standards.
• Structure & Buffer: You act as the interface between the CEO and the team. You clarify priorities, filter the noise, and absorb the pressure to allow your team to focus on execution while ensuring deadlines are met.
• Entrepreneurial Ownership: Act not just as an employee, but as a builder of the company. You instill a startup mindset—favoring rapid iteration and concrete results over pure academic exploration.

Requirements

• Training Authority: You have a PhD or a top-tier Engineering degree with deep experience in training Large Language Models (LLMs) or complex architectures. You understand training dynamics, convergence stability, and distributed systems.
• Architecture Intimacy: You understand exactly how modern architectures work under the hood (Transformers, MoE, SSMs/Mamba). You are not just using libraries; you understand the mathematical and hardware implications of every layer.
• Engineering Rigor: Unlike pure academic researchers, you write robust, scalable code (PyTorch/JAX). You bridge the gap between "research code" and "production-ready infrastructure."
• Transform Directions into Concrete Plans: You can take high-level, abstract scientific directives from the CEO and turn them into a concrete, executed engineering plan. You act as the bridge that structures the team's daily focus.
• Flexible Experience Level:
• - Option A: You are already a Research Manager / Tech Lead with experience managing a high-performance team.
• - Option B: You are a Senior/Staff Researcher at a top-tier lab or tech company, looking to take the next step in your career and shoulder managerial responsibilities.
• "Head Coach" Approach: You manage with a focus on sustainable performance. You know how to compose your team (recruiting, adjusting roles) and channel pressure to get results without burning people out. You prioritize shipping over endless exploration.
• Superstar without the Ego: You are confident in your skills but humble in your interactions. You are "brilliant but mature», you prioritize the team's success over personal recognition.
• Entrepreneurial Drive: You understand the startup pace. You favor rapid iteration cycles and "good enough" prototypes over theoretical perfection. You treat the company as if it were your own.
• Results over Papers: While you value scientific rigor, your primary metric of success is not the number of citations, but the performance of the model in our production engine.

Benefits

• Top-Tier Compensation: We offer a highly competitive salary package (top of the market) tailored to match your expertise and leadership level.
• Real Ownership (BSPCE): You aren't just an employee; you are a partner. We offer significant equity to ensure you share in the startup's success.
• Unrivaled Technical Playground: Work on the bleeding edge of AI hardware. You will have access to the compute power you need (high-end clusters) to perform your magic.
• A world-class Environment: Join a high-density talent team of 12 engineers (including 5 PhDs). We value peer-to-peer learning, high autonomy, and zero bureaucracy.
• Impact & Autonomy: As a Lead, you will have a direct seat at the table to shape our engineering culture and roadmap alongside the CEO.
• Remote-First & Team Bonding: We operate as a remote-first company, valuing autonomy and deep work. Our culture is punctuated by our monthly "Paris Weeks" one week per month, where the whole team gathers at our WeWork offices in the 13th district (near Station F), the heart of Paris' tech scene. These weeks are dedicated to strategic alignment, intense collaboration, and team bonding.