Research Scientist Intern, Machine Learning and Perception Science (AR) (PhD)

The Meta Reality Labs Research Team is pioneering the future of AR and VR by bringing together world-class researchers, developers, and engineers. Our mission is to advance computer graphics and display technologies, with a focus on perceptually optimized rendering, display hardware modeling, and generative AI for immersive experiences. We are currently seeking a Research Scientist Intern to contribute to our cutting-edge project on trainable perceptual metrics and end-to-end differentiable display waveguide models for AR/VR systems.This internship offers a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of computer vision, computational neuroscience, and hardware modeling. You will help develop perceptually driven, trainable image quality metrics grounded in human vision, and apply them to optimize AR/VR rendering and display pipelines. The work will involve building differentiable models of display hardware, integrating perceptual losses into machine learning workflows, and demonstrating practical improvements in image quality and power efficiency for next-generation AR/VR devices.Our internships are twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) weeks long, with various start dates throughout the year.

Research Scientist Intern, Machine Learning and Perception Science (AR) (PhD) Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with researchers and engineers in graphics, vision science, and hardware modeling to develop differentiable display waveguide models.
• Design and implement trainable loss functions based on human visual system principles.
• Build and optimize differentiable simulators for display waveguides and hardware, enabling joint optimization of rendering and display parameters.
• Review state-of-the-art research in perceptual modeling, display hardware simulation, and computation imaging/optics.
• Evaluate and demonstrate improvements in perceptual image quality and power efficiency using developed models and metrics.
• Prepare research results for publication in top-tier conferences (e.g., SIGGRAPH, CVPR, IEEE VR).

• Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining, a PhD degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Vision Science, Computational Neuroscience, or a related field
• Experience with Python (or similar) scripting and ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Experience in software design and programming in C/C++
• Understanding of computer graphics, image processing, display hardware
• Must obtain work authorization in the country of employment at the time of hire and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment

• Intent to return to a degree-program after the completion of the internship
• Experience with perceptual modeling, computational neuroscience, or display hardware simulation
• Track record of first-authored publications at leading conferences in computer vision, graphics, or machine learning (e.g., SIGGRAPH, CVPR, NeurIPS)
• Familiarity with differentiable simulation, hardware modeling, or ML-based optimization for physical systems
• Experience with generative models (e.g., diffusion models, auto-regressive models) and perceptual loss functions
• Understanding of waveguide optics and familiarity with simulation frameworks like Lumerical, Virtual Lab, FRED, LightTools or Zemax
• Familiarity in using machine learning and deep neural networks for simulating or optimizing optical devices in distributed systems and parallel computing environments
• Familiarity with code profiling, debugging, and optimization tools in the context of ML and hardware simulation
• Ability to read, trace, and refactor code in complex research projects
• Experience working and communicating cross functionally in a team environment