Research Scientist (AI Safety)

TL;DR

Research Scientist (AI Safety): Designing and executing research experiments to understand and defend against societal risks from advanced AI models, with an accent on evaluating emerging risks and their real-world implications. Focus on building research programs from scratch, identifying indicators of misuse, and shaping product safeguards based on findings.

Location: Hybrid in San Francisco, CA. Currently, all staff are expected to be in one of the offices at least 25% of the time. Visa sponsorship is available.

Salary: $350,000–$850,000 USD annually

Company

hirify.global is a public benefit corporation focused on creating reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems to ensure they are safe and beneficial for society.

What you will do

• Design and run research experiments to understand emerging risks models may create.
• Produce internal and external artifacts (research, products, demos) that communicate model capabilities.
• Shape product, safeguards, and training decisions based on research findings.
• Work closely with Societal Impacts (SI) and Safeguards teams.
• Build, run, and study autonomous AI-powered businesses.
• Develop benchmarks for a model’s national security capabilities.

Requirements

• Experience creating and running a research program from scratch.
• Fast experimentalist who ships research quickly.
• Thoughtful about humanity’s adaptation to powerful AI systems in the economy and society.
• Ability to communicate thoughtfully in written and spoken form with various stakeholders.
• Capability to scope ambiguous research questions into tractable first projects.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience required.

Nice to have

• Experience building and maintaining large, foundational infrastructure.
• Experience building simple interfaces for non-technical collaborators to evaluate AI systems.
• Experience working with and prioritizing requests from a wide variety of stakeholders, including research and product teams.

Culture & Benefits

• Focus on high-impact, big science AI research as a single cohesive team.
• Highly collaborative group with frequent research discussions.
• Competitive compensation and benefits.
• Optional equity donation matching.
• Generous vacation and parental leave, with flexible working hours.
• Lovely office space in San Francisco.