Drata

Staff Applied Research Engineer

Hybrid - San Francisco · Staff+

Sponsorship not specified$221k-$299kDetected 56 days ago

PythonVector DatabasesRESTMachine LearningData ScienceNLPLLMsRAGAgentic AIStatisticsA/B TestingResearchCollaboration

About the role

Drata, at the vanguard of compliance software innovation and renowned for its commitment to trust and security across the internet, is on an ambitious path to redefine how AI and General AI technologies bolster compliance automation.
This is a research-focused role emphasizing experimentation and rigor over production engineering.
Your work will directly impact how well our AI understands and navigates compliance artifacts.

Build and maintain evaluation frameworks: golden datasets, automated quality metrics, regression detection
Run experiments to validate hypotheses and quantify improvements before production rollout
Debug failure modes and build error taxonomies across retrieval, reasoning, and generation
Collaborate with AI and Software Engineers to hand off validated approaches for productionization
2+ years of hands-on experience building or contributing to production AI/ML systems

10+ years of experience in applied research, data science, or ML with a focus on NLP, information retrieval, or knowledge systems
Experience communicating research findings to engineering teams and translating insights into actionable recommendations
Experience with RAG systems: chunking strategies, vector databases, retrieval optimization
Proficiency in evaluation methodology: metrics design, golden dataset creation, A/B testing, statistical analysis

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's leveling and compensation-including a candidate's professional background and experience.
This role will receive a competitive base salary, benefits, and stock, typically in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).
$220,800 - $298,800.

We provide stock equity to ensure that as the company grows, you share directly in that success.
Equity gives every employee a sense of ownership and the opportunity to celebrate our wins together-because your contributions don't just support our progress; they help drive our collective success.
We want to support you in life's most important moments, so we offer a paid Parental Leave policy, after six months of employment.
Employees also receive access to Kindbody fertility and family-building benefits and dedicated leave specialists who help guide you through the entire process.
Bonus: Experience with compliance, legal, or document-heavy domains
Bonus: Publications or contributions in IR, NLP, or RAG evaluation
Implement and tune ranking/reranking systems: cross-encoders, LLM-based rerankers, learning-to-rank, custom scoring functions
Drata offers a flexible vacation policy, paid holidays, and other perks to recharge.

Hear the Voice of the Team https://drata.com/about/life-at-drata: Explore our "Life at Drata" page for employee testimonials on our collaborative and the growth opportunities available.
Experience the Impact https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7044563: See why we are consistently recognized on Fortune's Best Workplaces lists.
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/drata/posts/?feedView=all - follow us for company updates, employee stories, and career news.
A comprehensive suite of financial benefits, including a 401(k) plan, company-paid life and disability insurance, tax-advantaged spending accounts, and a range of discounted voluntary offerings to help you customize and strengthen your overall financial position.
Your contributions at Drata will not only shape the future of compliance and security automation but also solidify our standing as an innovator in the space, driving forward our mission with cutting-edge technology.

This listing is sourced directly from Drata's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.