Research Engineer, Generalist

Exa is hiring a Research Engineer, Generalist in San Francisco, United States. It pays $180k-$350k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Exa.

Level's read on this job

On Level's scale, this role is Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
Exa mentions visa sponsorship in this posting.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Cursor, machine learning and search engines.
Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
Level lists 56 other open roles at Exa.

AI in this role

Build massive-scale search and retrieval infrastructure, embedding models, and ML systems at Exa.

cursor

machine-learningsearch-enginesembedding-modelsvector-databasespython

Exa is an applied AI lab building a search engine unlike the world has ever seen. We build massive-scale infra to crawl the entire web, train state-of-the-art embedding models to process it, and design super high performant vector databases to retrieve over it. We now power search for Cursor, Cognition, HubSpot, and over 400,000 developers and have raised $350m from Lightspeed, Benchmark, and a16z.

Our ultimate goal is to build perfect search over all the world's information, far beyond Google. If you want to build massive-scale ML systems that will define the way the new AI world consumes information, this is the place for you.

Generalist Research Engineers work across our search and retrieval stack: crawling, parsing, ML performance, retrieval algorithms. The team is centered around improving end quality of search endpoints for customers.

Who You Are

High attention to detail; simultaneously understand customer needs and implementation details of the system
Great intellectual horsepower - generalists who are eager to go deep
You're excited to work across our search and retrieval stack: crawling, parsing, ML performance, retrieval algorithms and more
Comfortable working across different systems, and shipping fast
You care about the problem of finding high quality information and recognize how important this is for the world

What You Could Do

Design and ship a new parser that dramatically improves retrieval performance
Improve throughput and latency of ML models
Make our web crawler 3x faster

Logistics

Location: This is an in-person opportunity in San Francisco.
Visas: We're happy to sponsor international candidates (e.g., STEM OPT, OPT, H1B, O1, E3). While we cannot guarantee your visa, we have historically been successful in sponsoring candidates from all over the world. If you receive an offer, our team will work hard to get you a visa.
Benefits: We offer premium healthcare benefits (medical, dental, vision), fertility benefits, 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all new parents, and a monthly wellness stipend to all of our employees.

Exa is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related conditions, criminal histories consistent with applicable law, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

How we rate this

Research Engineer, Generalist at Exa rates 90 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Research Engineer, Generalist is an open job at Exa.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $180k-$350k a year.
The role is based in San Francisco, California.
The job was posted on July 7, 2026.
Seniority: mid.
Applications are handled by Exa. Apply on Exa

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Machine learningSearch EnginesEmbedding ModelsVector databasesPythonCursor

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where search engines was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where embedding models was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where vector databases was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where python was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Machine learning, Search Engines, Embedding Models, Vector databases, and Python. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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