- Maybe consider doing a Masters?
- Switch internally to a team that does ML? They may not be doing ML research, but you might get introduced to some interesting problems which you can pursue later.
- There are ML residency programs run by big tech, although they are extremely hard to get into.
- Maybe try working as a Research Assistant with a professor. Checkout Post-Bacc/Pre-Doc research fellow program at IITM and IITB
- Try to implement research papers, start with the popular ones, eventually you might identify some gap.
The Post-Bacc research fellow at IITM and the Pre-Doc fellow at IITB is meant for people who aren't currently enrolled there. It is a full time paid position.
Regarding your last point, you'll find code available for popular papers, you can check that if you get stuck. Implementing papers is not as hard as you think.