Sr Director, Applied Research

Sr Director, Applied Research Want to work at the forefront of applied research in an industry setting? Like the sound of a role that allows you to apply your findings and put your research into practice to shape the future of AI-driven products ? Thomson Reuters Labs might be the place for you. Thomson Reuters Labs is seeking a n experienced applied scientist with strong product mindset to lead a high-performing team developing transformative solutions for tax, audit, and accounting professionals. What does TR Labs do? We experiment, we build, we deliver. We support the organization and our customers through applied research and innovation . We work closely with product and domain experts to identify compelling solutions at the intersection of custom er needs and technical feasibility. We partner closely with product engineering teams to deliver real value in high-stakes settings , where accuracy and verifiability are essential. Our team is designing the next generation of agentic AI for tax & accounting pr ofessionals around the globe . This is an opportunity to create entirely new workflows addressing fundamental challenges in the industry . TR has all the ingredients from annotated tax law to robust tax engines and end -to-end solutions for data management, filing, audit, and compliance. Come join the R&D team for Thomson Reuters’ portfolio of tax p roducts , including Checkpoint , CoCounsel Tax , and OneSource . About the Role This role has significant scope to i nfluence product strategy and design the next generation of AI capabilities for Thomson Reuters’ flagship tax product s . As Sr Director, Applied Research , y ou will: D esign and d e velop AI features th at reimagine customer workflows Inform the business and Labs leadership on long term AI strategy and partnerships. Influence product strategy with high value insights around usage, quality, and customer feedback , as well as deep technical knowledge and experience building successful AI/ML products Continuously improve ways of working with cross-functional teams , in a fast-paced tightly embedded R&D cycle Engage subject matter experts in concept development and design workshops Inspire a team of highly intellectual individuals, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning . About You The ideal candidate will have a strong background in AI/ML, substantial experience building language technology for commercial products, demonstrated success leading high-performing teams, and the soft skills to bridge both technical and business perspectives. Minimum qualifications PhD in Computer Science/ML or Master’s plus comparable experience Demonstrable,  hands-on experience building AI/ML systems for commercial applications Demonstrable management experience – coaching & developing high-performing teams Experience designing and implementing solutions with large language models Experience innovating state-of-the-art solutions to solve challenging real-world problems Outstanding communication and analytical skills Preferred qualifications Experience building solutions for information retrieval in complex vertical domains ( e.g., i nvolving t axonomy induction, document understanding, agentic search, knowledge graphs, and/or neuro-symbolic approaches ) Experience with AI agent evaluation, language model training with verifiable rewards, and / or synthetic data generation. Relevant publications at ACL, EMNLP, NAACL, NeurIPS , ICLR, SIGIR, KDD, or similar. #LI-JB2 What’s in it For You? Hybrid Work Model: We’ve adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected. Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace pol ... (truncated, view full listing at source)