Applied Researcher

About GitHub

As the global home for all developers, GitHub is the complete AI-powered developer platform to build, scale, and deliver secure software. Over 100 million people, including developers from 90 of the Fortune 100 companies, use GitHub to build amazing things together across 330+ million repositories. With all the collaborative features of GitHub, it has never been easier for individuals and teams to write faster, better code.

Locations

In this role you can work from Remote, United Kingdom

Overview

GitHub Copilot has changed the way software is built, and we have a unique opportunity to look further ahead to identify how software development can be faster, safer, easier, and more accessible. We’re looking for talented and passionate Applied Scientists to join us in this mission! 

Our organization, GitHub Copilot Applied Science, plays a crucial role in advancing the core intelligence that powers Copilot. Our responsibilities encompass various areas such as LLM fine-tuning generation, prompt engineering, robust offline and online evaluation, and the development of end-to-end AI features using cutting-edge technologies. In this role, you will collaborate closely with a diverse and highly skilled group of researchers, scientists, and software engineers within our team, while partnering with multiple teams across GitHub and Microsoft. Together, we are dedicated to shaping the future of software development by continuously enhancing AI-powered capabilities in Copilot.

If you are passionate about generative AI, love solving complex problems, and want to push the boundaries of what’s possible in software development, we’d love to hear from you!

Responsibilities

• Develop and apply cutting-edge generative AI techniques to improve GitHub Copilot’s capabilities, including tasks like retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), testing new models, and optimizing prompt engineering strategies.

• Design, develop, and maintain a comprehensive offline evaluation framework for Copilot, ensuring robust and scalable methodologies for assessing model performance across diverse datasets and tasks.

• Conduct A/B experiments to evaluate the impact of product changes, ensuring continuous refinement and advancement.

• Collaborate closely with fellow researchers, scientists, and engineers, and partner with cross-functional teams across GitHub and Microsoft to drive innovation and ensure the delivery of impactful solutions.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Some years experience in software development, applied science, machine learning, or related field
  • OR Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Development, Electrical or Computer Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, or related field
  • OR equivalent experience.

• Hands-on experience in applied science, machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing or large-scale data mining.
• Programming skills in Python and experience with relevant libraries and frameworks

Preferred Qualifications:

These are more specific abilities we’re looking for, but it is the rare human who possesses them all. Think of this as a descriptive sketch, not a checklist of requirements. Be comfortable applying even if you don’t have all of them.

• Experience working with generative AI for code
• Experience working with LLMs
• Proficiency in Typescript
• Familiarity with Azure and/or GitHub Actions
• Experience working with a remote, distributed team
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with strong attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively in a multidisciplinary team

GitHub values

• Customer-obsessed
• Ship to learn
• Growth mindset
• Own the outcome
• Better together
• Diverse and inclusive

Manager fundamentals

• Model
• Coach
• Care

Leadership principles

• Create clarity
• Generate energy
• Deliver success

Who We Are

GitHub is the world’s leading AI-powered developer platform with 100 million developers and counting. We’re also home to the biggest open-source community on earth (and 99% of the world’s software has open-source code in its DNA). Many of the apps and programs you use every day are built on GitHub.
Our teams are dreamers, doers, and pioneers, leading the way in AI, driving humanitarian efforts around the globe, and even sending open source to Mars (and beyond!). At GitHub, our goal is to create the space you need to do your best work. We’re remote-first and offer competitive pay, generous learning and growth opportunities, and excellent benefits to support you, wherever you are—because we know that people flourish when they can work on their own terms.
Join us, and let’s change the world, together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

GitHub is made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and lifestyles. We embrace diversity and invite applications from people of all walks of life. We don’t discriminate against employees or applicants based on gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, national origin, citizenship, disability, pregnancy status, veteran status, or any other differences. Also, if you have a disability, please let us know if there’s any way we can make the interview process better for you; we’re happy to accommodate!