[Remote] AI Applied Scientist - PhD Intern, Foundational IQ

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Zillow is a leading real estate platform in the U.S. seeking a PhD Research Intern for their AI Foundational IQ team. The role involves training and adapting large models for better understanding of homes and users, focusing on representation learning and multimodal modeling to enhance user experiences.

Responsibilities

• Research and develop methods for adapting LLMs and foundation models with Zillow’s domain-specific data
• Build and evaluate multimodal models that combine text, images, geospatial and tabular signals for home and user understanding
• Explore reinforcement learning and sequential decision-making for long‑horizon, user‑centric outcomes
• Prototype agentic workflows; define success metrics and run rigorous offline/online evaluations
• Partner across science, engineering, product, and design; share results via docs, presentations, and publications

Skills

• Currently enrolled in a PhD program in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence or a related field with a strong research track record
• Experience in one or more of the following: LLMs: instruction tuning/fine‑tuning, prompting, and evaluation/measurement
• Experience in one or more of the following: Multimodal learning (image + text; familiarity with audio or geospatial a plus)
• Experience in one or more of the following: Representation learning with limited labels (self/semi/weakly-supervised)
• Experience in one or more of the following: User modeling for personalization systems
• Experience in one or more of the following: Reinforcement learning or sequential decision‑making
• Experience in one or more of the following: Evaluating generative/agentic systems; privacy‑aware and responsible AI practices (e.g., fair‑housing considerations) are a plus
• Proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face)
• Clear communication and a collaborative mindset; motivated to publish at top venues

Company Overview

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