Research Scientist

About Basis

Basis is a nonprofit applied AI research organization with two mutually reinforcing goals.

The first is to understand and build intelligence. This means to establish the mathematical principles of what it means to reason, to learn, to make decisions, to understand, and to explain; and to construct software that implements these principles.

The second is to advance society’s ability to solve intractable problems. This means expanding the scale, complexity, and breadth of problems that we can solve today, and even more importantly, accelerating our ability to solve problems in the future.

To achieve these goals, we’re building both a new technological foundation that draws inspiration from how humans reason, and a new kind of collaborative organization that puts human values first.

About the Role

Research scientists lead Basis’ efforts to develop a deeper understanding of the conceptual, mathematical, and computational principles of intelligence.

We are looking for people who are technically excellent, and who value probing concepts at their foundations. Our research scientists/engineers aspire to do rigorous, high-quality, robust science, but are not afraid to tinker, make mistakes, and explore radically different ideas in order to get there.

Basis is a collaborative effort, both internally and with our external partners; we are looking for people who enjoy working with others on problems larger than ones they can tackle alone.

We expect you to:

• Have demonstrated an ability to do scientific research that is of high-quality. Possible ways to demonstrate this include publications, technical reports, and software projects.

In addition, the following would be an advantage:

• PhD (or equivalent experience) in technical areas, including: statistics, programming languages, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, physics, mathematics.

• Excited about solving real world problems and having positive societal impact.

Responsibilities

• Develop and explore computational theories of intelligence, including reasoning, learning, and decision-making.

• In close collaboration with domain experts inside and especially outside Basis, work as a team member to help solve scientific and societal problems

• Distill insights from solving problems into more general mathematical and computational theories

• Develop and maintain open-source software

• (Optionally) Publish and present findings in journals and conferences

• Contribute to the culture and direction of Basis

Role Details

Exceptional candidates who may not meet all of the following criteria are still encouraged to apply.

• FT/PT: This is a full-time position

• Hours: While we prioritize in-person collaboration for its benefits to creative work, there is a degree of flexibility in your working hours. Be prepared to attend multi-day Basis-wide in-person events.

• Location: This role is in-person in either New York City or Cambridge, MA.

• Salary range: Competitive salary and bonuses

Non-Discrimination Notice
Basis Research Institute provides equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or genetics and prohibits discrimination based on all protected characteristics.

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