Sr. Research Scientist - Agent Flywheel

P-1213

Company Description

At Databricks, we are obsessed with enabling data teams to solve the world's toughest problems, from security threat detection to cancer drug development. We do this by building and running the world's best data and AI platform so our customers can focus on the high-value challenges that are central to their own missions.

The Databricks AI Research organization is pushing the frontier of next-generation enterprise AI. We believe a company's data is its greatest competitive advantage, and we're building the models and agents that unlock it. Our work spans the full stack, from model training to advanced multi-agent systems.

Job Description

As a Research Scientist on the Agent Flywheel team, you will build the context layer for recursive self-improvement and autofix loops for agents: turning raw production session traces from Databricks’ data agents into online signals agents can optimize against. You will research how to convert messy, real customer interactions into deterministic metrics, calibrated LLM judges, and failure clusters, and close the loop so those signals drive training and agent improvement.

You will join a collaborative team of researchers with diverse backgrounds and encode your findings into products our customers rely on.

The impact you will have

• Turn raw production session traces from Genie Code and Genie One into online signals agents can optimize against.
• Train and calibrate LLM judges so model feedback becomes reliable, repeatable signal, including calibration against expert human ratings.
• Convert multi-turn agent trajectories into datasets and reward signals for post-training, closing the loop between production signals, evaluation, and agent improvement.
• Design benchmarks and RL environments from real customer workloads that probe long-horizon, tool-using agent behavior.
• Advance evaluation research: online evals on live traffic, automated raters, verifiable rewards, and measurement that keeps pace with agents that act.
• Keep up with the latest developments in deep learning and create new techniques that go beyond the state of the art.

What we look for

• Expertise in debugging and diagnosing failures in complex, stochastic, multi-component systems
• Deep instinct for designing metrics and evals that track what actually matters, and questioning noisy, sparse, or biased signals
• Experimental rigor and causal thinking, from offline ablations to online experiments
• A drive to turn measurement into improvement: closing the loop from signals to changes that move the numbers
• Solid AI research and software engineering skills
• Strong communication skills and excitement to work on a small, fast-paced team
• A drive to get your work into the hands of real users

Nice to have

• Experience with agent systems, such as coding agents, long-horizon tool-using agents, or building evaluation environments
• A track record of novel research on learning from feedback, such as post-training, RLHF, or reward modeling

Pay Range Transparency

Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

Benefits

At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.