AI Research Engineer jobs in 2026 — required skills, demand trends, and top hiring cities

As of 2026-05-17, Skillenai has indexed 143 job postings with the title “AI Research Engineer” over the past 90 days. The skill mentioned most often is Reinforcement learning, with demand up 33% vs the prior 4 weeks.

Last updated · 90d ending 2026-05-17

Postings · last 90 days
143
Demand vs prior month
up 33% vs the prior 4 weeks
Most-required skill
Top hiring metro
San Francisco

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Frequently asked questions about AI Research Engineer jobs

+How many AI Research Engineer jobs are being posted in 2026?

Skillenai has indexed 143 job postings with the title “AI Research Engineer” over the 90 days ending 2026-05-17, with demand up 33% vs the prior 4 weeks.

+What skills do AI Research Engineer jobs require?

Across AI Research Engineer postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-05-17, the skills mentioned most often are Reinforcement learning, Python, PyTorch, machine learning, TensorFlow.

+Which cities are hiring the most AI Research Engineer?

As of 2026-05-17, AI Research Engineer postings indexed by Skillenai are concentrated in San Francisco, New York City, London, Mountain View, Uk.

+Is AI Research Engineer a good career path right now?

Skillenai indexes 143 AI Research Engineer postings over the 90 days ending 2026-05-17, with demand up 33% vs the prior 4 weeks. The skill mentioned most often in AI Research Engineer postings is Reinforcement learning, so building it gives the strongest signal that an applicant matches the role.

+How can I track new AI Research Engineer job postings as they’re indexed?

Skillenai sends a daily email digest of new AI Research Engineer postings indexed across the open web. Subscribe from your account dashboard after creating a free Skillenai account.

Weekly AI Research Engineer postings — last 90 days

Skills most often required for AI Research Engineer

NamePostingsShare
Reinforcement learning5416.2%
Python4814.4%
PyTorch4112.3%
machine learning3510.5%
TensorFlow278.1%
JAX216.3%
deep learning216.3%
fine-tuning154.5%
C++123.6%
computer vision113.3%
model evaluation113.3%
LLMs113.3%
Generative AI103.0%
Quantization92.7%
distributed training82.4%

Top metros hiring AI Research Engineer

NamePostingsShare
San Francisco921.4%
New York City716.7%
London614.3%
Mountain View49.5%
Uk49.5%
Manhattan37.1%
Milpitas37.1%
Pittsburgh37.1%
Tokyo37.1%

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How this was computed

Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-05-17, matching postings whose canonical role is “AI Research Engineer”. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-posted roles).

role
AI Research Engineer
source
Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
data_as_of
2026-05-17
window_days
90
Hiring for AI Research Engineer?

The demand, skills, and geo numbers on this page come from the same Skillenai labor market index that powers our API. Use it for compensation benchmarking, hiring-competition analysis, and skill-adoption tracking.

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Compiled by Jared Rand · Data sourced from the Skillenai labor market index