Institute of Foundation Models
Researches and develops foundation models
Machine Learning Engineer
+ Bonus
About the job
- Minimum: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
- 3 years of experience in software engineering, including experience with Machine Learning models, ML infrastructure, Natural Language Processing or Computer Vision.
- 2 years of experience with software development in one or more programming languages, or 1 year of experience with an advanced degree in an industry setting.
- 2 years of experience with data structures or algorithms in either an academic or industry setting.
- 2 years of experience with machine learning algorithms and tools (e.g., TensorFlow), artificial intelligence, deep learning, or natural language processing.
- Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills to address complex technical challenges.
- Effective communication and collaboration skills to work with cross functional teams.
- Collaborate with Research teams to understand technologies, adapting and integrating them into codebase.
- Develop and implement systems to support the lifecycle of machine learning models, such as data preprocessing, pre-training, post-training, evaluation and so on, especially foundation models.
- Participate in, or lead design reviews with peers and stakeholders to decide amongst available technologies.
- Review code developed by other developers and provide feedback to ensure best practices (e.g., style guidelines, checking code in, accuracy, testability, and efficiency).
- Contribute to existing documentation or educational content and adapt content based on product/program updates and user feedback.
- Triage product or system issues and debug/track/resolve by analyzing the sources of issues and the impact on hardware, network, or service operations and quality.
- Contribute to research papers and represent MBZUAI at industry conferences and events, showcasing the institution’s cutting-edge HPC and deep learning capabilities and establishing MBZUAI as a global leader in AI research and innovation.
- Perform all other duties as reasonably directed by the line manager that are commensurate with these functional objectives.
- Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science or related technical field.
- 2 years of experience with improving performance during large scale data processing.
- Hands-on experience with LLM algorithms, such as Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT) and Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF).
- Excellent data analysis skills.
- Visa sponsorship eligibility
About the company
IFM builds and studies foundation models—large AI models designed to learn broadly from diverse data and be used across many tasks. Its work centers on academic research to create open, fast, and practical models that address real-world societal needs, rather than narrow applications. The models are developed by a global team across Abu Dhabi, Paris, and Silicon Valley, with a strong emphasis on openness and collaboration to advance AI science and accessibility. Unlike typical private labs that lock models behind paywalls, IFM aims to provide publicly accessible, efficient models that can be used by researchers and developers to solve real problems. The overarching goal is to push the science of foundation models forward while ensuring their benefits reach society at large.
Company Size
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Company Stage
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Total Funding
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Headquarters
United Arab Emirates
Founded
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- AWS, Cerebras, Nebius, and Hugging Face distribution lowers adoption friction immediately.
- K2 Horizon's 512K context and mobile-sized 0.9B models expand enterprise use cases.
- MBZUAI's May 2025 launch and January 2026 K2 Think V2 show sustained output.
What critics are saying
- Open sourcing K2 Horizon invites DeepSeek, Tencent, and Alibaba clones within months.
- Enterprise buyers can switch to cheaper hosted models if IFM lacks sticky software.
- If MBZUAI reprioritizes funding, IFM's Paris and Silicon Valley footprint becomes existential burn.
What makes Institute of Foundation Models unique
- September 3, 2026 K2 Horizon shipped six Apache 2.0 models from 0.9B to 375B.
- IFM releases weights, code, data, checkpoints, and logs, not just open weights.
- Abu Dhabi, Silicon Valley, and Paris talent give IFM global recruiting reach.
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Benefits
Health Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Paid Vacation
Paid Holidays
Parental Leave
Employee Assistance Program
Life Insurance
Disability Insurance
401(k) Plan
Wellness Program
Flexible Work Hours
Remote Work Options
Hybrid Work Options
Stock Options
Company Equity
Company News
The Institute of Foundation Models has launched K2 Horizon, a fleet of six fully open-source AI models ranging from 0.9 billion to 375 billion parameters. The models include weights, code, training data, and methodologies, allowing researchers and developers to inspect and reproduce the work. The 0.9B, 3.7B, and 7B models set new benchmarks at their respective scales. The smallest model can run on watches and glasses, whilst the 3.7B and 7B models work on phones. The dense 32B model and sparse 36B model suit local hosting, and the 375B flagship model targets enterprise deployments. Launched by Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in May 2025, IFM now operates across Silicon Valley, Paris, and Abu Dhabi. The models are available through Hugging Face, vLLM, and SGLang, with API access through partners including AWS and Cerebras. All models use the Apache 2.0 licence.