Bay Area Senior Materials Scientist - AI Benchmarking

Obsidian; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Obsidian seeks a senior materials science domain expert to collaborate with an AI lab’s research and program management teams. Your work will review materials knowledge tasks, write instruction specs and golden solutions, and build benchmarks to measure model improvement.

This is a full-time W-2 role with Cincinnatus LLC, hybrid in the Bay Area with on-site requirements. Required are a PhD in materials science (or MSc with depth), 4+ years in research/R&D, domain specialization, and demonstrated

Qualifications

• PhD in materials science or related discipline (or Master’s with exceptional industrial depth).
• 4+ years of substantive research or industrial R&D in materials.
• Genuine specialization in at least one materials area (energy storage, semiconductors, polymers, alloys, imaging, or computational materials).
• Clear progression to a senior level with ownership of research direction.
• Peer-reviewed publications, granted patents, or shipped materials programs preferred.
• Hands-on use of large language models in professional work and ability to discern plausible-sounding wrong answers from correct ones.
• Able to commit to 40 hours per week for a 6-month engagement.
• Located in Bay Area, capable of on-site work multiple days weekly; relocation at own cost if needed.

Responsibilities

• Data QA and reviews to verify quality and detect missing behaviors or unsupported structure.
• Write instruction specs and golden datasets defining problem-solving expectations.
• Design benchmarks and domain-specific evaluation sets with research team.
• Calibrate standards with client researchers to translate tacit judgment into explicit criteria.

Skills

Materials science

AI fluency

Technical writing

Project management

Education

PhD in materials science

Master's degree with industrial depth

Job description

Obsidian seeks a senior materials science domain expert to collaborate with an AI lab’s research and program management teams. Your work will review materials knowledge tasks, write instruction specs and golden solutions, and build benchmarks to measure model improvement.

This is a full-time W-2 role with Cincinnatus LLC, hybrid in the Bay Area with on-site requirements. Required are a PhD in materials science (or MSc with depth), 4+ years in research/R&D, domain specialization, and demonstrated