Assistant Research Scientist (PREP0004937)

Johns Hopkins University; Gaithersburg (MD); On-site; USD 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Johns Hopkins University is seeking a PREP Research Associate to advance agentic AI research within the NIST PREP program. You will design, develop, and evaluate AI agents, build experimental platforms, and contribute to benchmarks and methodologies for safe, trustworthy agentic AI across multiple domains.

The role emphasizes collaboration with researchers and stakeholders to transition findings into practical tools and standards that support government and industry partners.

Qualifications

• Experience conducting research in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or related fields.
• Experience designing or evaluating AI agents or autonomous systems.
• Ability to develop benchmarks, testbeds, or evaluation frameworks for AI systems.
• Ability to translate research findings into practical tools or guidance.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and evaluate AI agents and agentic AI systems.
• Build experimental platforms and demonstrations to assess capabilities.
• Conduct advanced research and develop methodologies and benchmarks.
• Collaborate with researchers to advance trustworthy agentic AI.
• Support transition of research into practical tools and guidance.

Skills

AI research

Agentic AI

Multi-agent systems

LLMs

Tool-using AI

Job description

Salary: $80,000-$100,000 a year

PREP Research Associate

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). The PREP program provides valuable research and laboratory experience, as well as financial support, to researchers at various stages of their academic and professional careers. Individuals in this position will perform technical work that advances scientific research and measurement science across multiple disciplines.

Research Title: Research Associate - Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) Scientist

Position Description

The Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) Scientist will serve as a technical expert in the design, development, evaluation, and deployment of trustworthy AI agents and agentic AI systems. The successful candidate will contribute to cutting-edge research focused on supporting the development of methodologies, benchmarks, and best practices that enable the safe, secure, reliable, and effective use of AI agents across a range of application domains.

The position will support research activities related to AI agents, multi-agent systems, tool-using AI systems, human-AI collaboration, and emerging agentic AI architectures. The successful candidate will also contribute to the transition of research outcomes into practical solutions, guidance, and standards-related activities that advance trustworthy and responsible adoption of agentic AI technologies.

Key Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Technical Development and Implementation:

• Design, develop, and evaluate AI agents and agentic AI systems. Develop and implement architectures for autonomous and human-supervised AI agents, including multi-agent and tool-integrated systems.
• Build experimental platforms, prototypes, and proof-of-concept demonstrations to assess agentic AI capabilities and limitations.

Research and Technical Analysis:

• Conduct advanced research and technical analyses to develop and evaluate trustworthy approaches for agentic AI systems.
• Develop methodologies, benchmarks, testbeds, and measurement techniques to assess agent performance, reliability, safety, robustness, explainability, and human oversight.
• Investigate challenges associated with autonomous decision-making, agent coordination, tool use, planning, memory, and adaptive behavior.
• Evaluate risks and failure modes associated with agentic AI systems, including unintended actions, misuse, autonomy-related risks, and security vulnerabilities.

Technical Collaboration and Coordination:

• Collaborate with researchers and technical experts across NIST and external partner organizations to advance the science and practice of trustworthy agentic AI.
• Evaluate emerging agentic AI technologies and assess their applicability to multidisciplinary use cases.

Technology Transition and Stakeholder Engagement:

• Support the transition of research outcomes into practical tools, frameworks, guidance documents, and operational capabilities for government and industry stakeholders.
• Engage with external partners to identify challenges, opportunities, and emerging requirements for AI agents and autonomous systems.

Qualifications

U.S. Citizen Preferred

• Experience conducting research and measurement science in artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language models (LLMs), agentic AI, multi-agent systems, or related fields.
• Experience designing, developing, evaluating, or deploying AI agents, autonomous systems, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, tool-using AI systems, or LLM-based applications.
• Experience developing benchmarks, evaluation methodologies, testbeds, frameworks, or pilot implementations for AI systems.
• Demonstrated ability to transition research outcomes into practical applications that deliver measurable impact to industry or government stakeholders.
• Familiarity with AI orchestration frameworks, agent architectures, human-AI interaction, AI safety, AI security, or autonomous system evaluation.
• Strong analytical, technical, and communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively in multidisciplinary research environments.

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which isdesigned to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

PREPis a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate the administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses

NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.

Disclosure

Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated. By applying to a CHIPS-funded PREP opportunity, you also acknowledge that participation in the project requires signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to beginning any work.

Salary Range

The referenced salary range represents the minimum and maximum salaries for this position and is based on Johns Hopkins University's good faith belief at the time of posting. Not all candidates will be eligible for the upper end of the salary range. The actual compensation offered to the selected candidate may vary and will ultimately depend on multiple factors, which may include the successful candidate's geographic location, skills, work experience, internal equity, market conditions, education/training and other factors, as reasonably determined by the University.

Total Rewards

Johns Hopkins offers a total rewards package that supports our employees' health, life, career and retirement. More information can be found here: https://hr.jhu.edu/benefits-worklife/ .

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Johns Hopkins University is committed to equal opportunity for its faculty, staff, and students. To that end, the university does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status or other legally protected characteristics. The university is committed to providing qualified individuals access to all academic and employment programs, benefits and activities on the basis of demonstrated ability, performance and merit without regard to personal factors or demographic characteristics that are irrelevant to the program involved.

Pre-Employment Information

If you are interested in applying for employment with Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at [e-mail]. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711. For more information about workplace accommodations at Johns Hopkins University for disabilities, medical conditions (including medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), accessibility, or religious reasons, please visit accessibility.jhu.edu.

Background Checks

After receiving a conditional offer, the successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check including education verification. When deciding whether a candidate's conviction history is job-disqualifying, the University considers the nature and gravity of the offense, the time that has passed since the conviction, and the nature of the job being sought.

EEO is the Law

https://www.eeoc.gov/employees-job-applicants

Vaccine Requirements

Johns Hopkins University strongly encourages, but no longer requires, at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This change does not apply to the School of Medicine (SOM). SOM hires must be fully vaccinated with an FDA COVID-19 vaccination and provide proof of vaccination status. We still require all faculty, staff, and students to receive the seasonal flu vaccine.

Exceptions to the seasonal flu vaccine or COVID-19 vaccine (for SOM) requirement(s) may be provided to individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs or medical conditions that preclude them from receiving the vaccine. Requests for an exception must be submitted to the JHU vaccination registry. For additional information, applicants for SOM positions should visit https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine/ and all other JHU applicants should visit https://covidinfo.jhu.edu/health-safety/covid-vaccination-information/ .

The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those candidates who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.