Sr AI Research Scientist, AI Evaluation and Reliability

Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.

Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at Upwork.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X; and learn more about Lifted at Go-Lifted and follow on LinkedIn.

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Sr. Lead AI Research Scientist, AI Evaluation and Reliability

The AI Foundations team leads core research and development across the training, evaluation, and deployment of AI systems that power Uma, Upwork’s flagship AI model, and other customer-facing generative AI capabilities. As a Sr. Lead AI Research Scientist focused on AI Evaluation and Reliability, you will drive high-impact research initiatives that improve the trustworthiness, robustness, and real-world performance of AI systems operating at marketplace scale.

At the Sr. Lead level, this role combines deep technical expertise with cross-functional leadership. You will identify and lead research efforts that address systemic reliability challenges, partner closely with engineering and product teams to translate research into production outcomes, and help shape how Upwork evaluates AI performance in real work scenarios. Your work will support AI systems embedded in retrieval-based workflows, agentic architectures, and human plus AI collaboration patterns, while contributing to Upwork’s broader AI research strategy and external presence.

Responsibilities:

• Lead applied research initiatives focused on AI evaluation, reliability, and robustness, defining success metrics tied to customer impact and production readiness.

• Design and validate methods to