Sr. Research Engineer

The Opportunity

Adobe's Sound Design AI group (SODA) is looking for a driven Data/ML engineer to push the boundaries of audio GenAI. Join the team behind Firefly Generate Sound Effects and multiple AI models that have shipped in Adobe products.

We’re a small, collaborative and efficient research team looking for highly motivated candidates of all levels with a passion for audio and video data. If the prospect of productizing cutting-edge research into impactful tools for Adobe’s creative users sounds exciting, this is it.

We're hiring a data lead to own the training data behind our generative audio models end to end. Our models learn from large-scale audio and video corpora, and the quality, balance, and integrity of that data is one of the biggest levers on model performance. This person is the single owner of what's in the data, why, and how we know it's good.

Responsibilities

• Build, deploy, and monitor large-scale data pipelines for ingesting, filtering and preprocessing audio and video at scale, with reproducibility and versioning.
• Run in-house models for inference over millions of audio/video files, and build data exploration tools to support this.
• Curate and select training data using both quantitative metrics and qualitative judgment. Maintain an ongoing understanding of the corpus: distribution, balance, diversity, coverage, and redundancy.
• Train or finetune models on pipeline outputs, evaluate their behavior, and use those findings to drive new data experiments and ablations. Scale training and optimize throughput.
• Drive data licensing and acquisition: identify gaps and opportunities, define briefs, and work with vendors and producers to license and curate new datasets.
• Own how training labels and annotations are produced, validated, and improved, including model-assisted labeling at scale.

Required skills

• Pipeline-building experience at scale for audio and/or video data with reproducibility and versioning
• Deep audio domain knowledge: common datasets, quality metrics and their failure modes, codecs, normalization, and filtering. Strong "ears" and critical listening ability. Video knowledge a plus.
• Generative-ML research experience to make data decisions, design and run training experiments independently
• Strong command of evaluation in audio and video modelling.
• Data acquisition and licensing experience, including writing briefs and communicating across stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours. 

Let’s Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations@adobe.com.

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several  U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $164,600 - $313,300 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.

In California, the pay range for this position is $216,400 - $313,300


At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans.  Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California:

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.