Senior AI Research Engineer & Project Lead

Special Instructions To Applicants:

We’re looking for a visionary AI leader to push the frontiers of space exploration, secure satellite systems, and next-generation healthcare. If you thrive on solving the hardest problems at the intersection of artificial intelligence, aerospace engineering, and life-saving medicine, this is your mission.

As our Senior AI Research Engineer & Project Lead, you’ll design breakthrough AI systems for lunar missions, satellite cybersecurity, and AI-powered medical diagnostics—then lead them from concept to deployment in high-stakes environments.

You’ll work with NASA mission simulation frameworks (NOS3), develop real-time telemetry analytics for spacecraft, and architect cloud-based AI solutions on Microsoft Azure. You’ll also pioneer Generative AI and LLM applications that could change how we operate in space and detect diseases here on Earth.

About Rice:

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

Position Summary:
This position is responsible for inventing and deploying AI/ML solutions to enhance spacecraft telemetry, anomaly detection, and mission performance optimization. It involves building cyber-resilient space systems aligned with SPARTA and NIST frameworks, as well as leading healthcare AI projects that enable precise detection of cardiovascular diseases. The role requires architecting and scaling AI platforms using Azure, GPUs, TPUs, and NASA-grade tools, while integrating Generative AI and fine-tuned LLMs into both aerospace and healthcare systems. A key focus is on leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver innovative, impactful results that advance mission success and improve human health.

This role offers the opportunity to contribute directly to lunar mission safety and the advancement of large-scale disease detection. The position provides collaboration with leading aerospace organizations, including Intuitive Machines, Axiom Space, and NASA partners, as well as access to state-of-the-art AI infrastructure such as TPUs, GPUs, Azure ML, and Gemini models. Successful candidates will join a mission-driven team where their research will have direct application in space exploration and healthcare innovation.

Ideal Candidate Statement:
The ideal candidate holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field, and brings over a decade of experience advancing AI in healthcare, complemented by at least five years of expertise in aerospace systems. They are hands-on with NASA NOS3, telemetry analytics, and modern cloud-based AI architectures, and have a proven track record of leading mission-critical AI/ML projects from concept to deployment. Beyond technical mastery, this candidate demonstrates strong leadership, a passion for space exploration, and a deep commitment to leveraging AI for the greater good.

Workplace Requirements:
This position is offered as a hybrid role, combining both in-office and remote work to provide flexibility and support collaboration. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.

• Hiring Range:
• Hiring salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications.
• *Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.
• This position is funded by soft funds. Continued employment is contingent on the renewal of funding.

Minimum Requirements:

• Doctoral degree
• 2+ years of postdoctoral experience
• End-to-end AI/ML R&D in time-series/telemetry, anomaly detection, forecasting, and evaluation under class imbalance
• In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience, above and beyond what is required, may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis
• Hands-on work with mission/safety-critical (spacecraft/ground telemetry) and/or clinical datasets
• Cloud ML on Microsoft Azure (Azure ML/AI Foundry, Data Lake/Blob, Synapse/Databricks); reproducible MLOps, model versioning/monitoring
• Collaboration with multidisciplinary teams; mentoring students/junior engineers

Licenses/Certifications/Other:

• Completion of required university research compliance trainings (e.g., CITI/IRB; HIPAA/PHI where applicable) and institutional cybersecurity/data-handling trainings within standard onboarding timelines
• Ability to work with sensitive/export-controlled data per sponsor and institutional policy

Skills:

• Scientific/Technical Mastery: AI/ML (supervised/unsupervised, deep learning and reinforcement learning), time-series telemetry, anomaly/event detection, error analysis, experimental design
• Aerospace Simulation & Telemetry: NASA NOS3 mission simulation, subsystem integration, fault injection/validation; spacecraft and ground-segment telemetry pipelines
• Space Systems Cybersecurity: Working knowledge of SPARTA and NIST frameworks; translating threat models/TTPs into data-driven detection and response analytics
• Cloud & MLOps: Azure ML pipelines, data lakes, CI/CD for models, containerization (Docker), Git, reproducibility, model governance/monitoring
• GenAI & LLMs: RAG pipelines, domain adaptation/fine-tuning, safe prompt/response patterns, integration into mission workflows and documentation
• Communication & Leadership: Outstanding scientific writing, editing, presentations; cross-functional collaboration; mentoring; strong organization and attention to detail

Preferences:

• Prior work with lunar/planetary or cislunar mission data; digital twins; RF/EPS/COM/GNC anomaly detection
• Healthcare AI experience (e.g., auscultation/murmur detection, RHD pipelines, clinical integrations)
• Azure certifications (Data/AI Engineer), Security+ or similar; familiarity with SOC 2 / ISO 27001 controls
• Publications/patents/open-source contributions in applied AI for aerospace/healthcare.
• Real-time streaming (Event Hubs/Kafka), edge inference (ONNX/TFLite), performance-sensitive components (C/C++/Rust/Go)

Essential Functions:

• Lead and execute AI/ML research projects for aerospace telemetry analytics, space-systems cybersecurity, and healthcare AI, from hypothesis/design through analysis and dissemination
• Architect secure, cloud-based ML systems (ingestion → features → modeling → validation → serving/monitoring) on Azure, ensuring reproducibility and governance
• Develop anomaly detection/forecasting for spacecraft and ground telemetry; design evaluation aligned to mission alerting/operational needs
• Operationalize SPARTA/NIST-aligned analytics for detection, resilience, and incident support across space and ground systems
• Integrate GenAI/LLMs (e.g., RAG) for decision support, mission documentation, and procedures with appropriate safety/guardrails
• Collaborate and disseminate: prepare sponsor reports, publish peer-reviewed results, present at conferences/seminars
• Mentor graduate/undergraduate researchers and junior engineers; maintain a safe, efficient research environment and comply with institutional/sponsor requirements

Additional Functions:

• Direction and mentorship of Rice interns and collaborating scientists across the project; clear communication
• Creativity and strategic vision applying AI to solve real-world problems in healthcare and aerospace
• Strong communication, stakeholder engagement, and leadership
• Contribute to proposal development and sponsor reporting; help shape program roadmaps across space and healthcare AI
• Organize internal workshops/tutorials; support outreach
• Represent the program at technical conferences/working groups; occasional travel to partner sites/test facilities

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

Rice Mission and Values: Mission and Values | Rice University

Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please contact Rice University’s Disability Resource Center at 713-348-5841 or adarice@rice.edu for support.

If you have any additional questions, please email us at jobs@rice.edu. Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.