Forward Deployed Research Scientist

Goodfire; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 315,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Competitive benefits

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

Goodfire seeks a Forward Deployed Research Scientist to work directly with customers, applying interpretability to solve novel problems. You will lead research with partners, define hypotheses, source data, build tools, and translate research into real-world applications.

Ideal candidates have MS/PhD in CS, strong ML background, and fluency in Python with PyTorch. You will join a mission-driven team in San Francisco, with a mix of on-site and remote collaboration and the opportunity to shape our

Qualifications

• MS/PhD in CS or equivalent with strong ML background.
• Deep familiarity with large models and interpretability.
• Fluency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with customers to conduct original research in interpretability.
• Prototype techniques to visualize and manipulate internal model structures.
• Collaborate with engineering to turn research into production-ready tools.
• Drive partnership success by collaborating closely with our customers and partners.
• Help define and evolve our research direction.

Skills

ML basics

Python

PyTorch

Communication

Education

MS/PhD in CS

Tools

None

Job description

Goodfire is a research company using interpretability to understand, learn from, and design AI systems. Our mission is to build the next generation of safe and powerful AI—not by scaling alone, but by understanding the intelligence we're building. Scaling has proven powerful, but today's approach is fundamentally limited: we can't meaningfully understand, debug, or shape what models learn. Every engineering discipline has been gated by fundamental science and AI is at that inflection point now.

Goodfire is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco with a team of the world’s top interpretability researchers and engineers from organizations like OpenAI and DeepMind. We're backed by over $200M from B Capital, Menlo Ventures, Lightspeed, Eric Schmidt, and others.

About the role

We’re looking for a Forward Deployed Research Scientist to join our team to work directly with customers to apply our interpretability platform to solve novel problems for our customers. You’ll work closely with a small, mission-driven team of scientists and engineers to conduct novel research, build practical tools, and push the field forward.

Where you might contribute:

• Forward deployed research – lead research with our partners to interpret advanced models.
• Project delivery and implementation – own research delivery on high-stakes projects with customers and do whatever it takes to make delivery successful, including: problem and hypothesis definition, data sourcing, tool building, iteration, and implementation. Translate research into tools for real-world applications.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work directly with customers to conduct original research in interpretability.
• Prototype techniques to visualize and manipulate internal model structures.
• Collaborate with engineering to turn research into production-ready tools.
• Drive partnership success by collaborating closely with our customers and partners.
• Help define and evolve our research direction.

What you’ll bring

Required experience

• MS/PhD or equivalent experience in CS, with a strong ML background and experience in interpretability.
• Deep familiarity with large models and a passion for understanding how they work.
• Fluency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Strong writing and communication skills for explaining complex ideas.
• Drive to move quickly and take ownership.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience leading research in a forward deployed environment and in service of a customer’s requirements.
• Experience in startup or fast-paced lab environments.

Our values

Goodfire is looking for individuals who embody our values and share our deep commitment to making interpretability accessible. We are building a team first and foremost.

Put mission and team first

All we do is in service of our mission. We trust each other, deeply care about the success of the organization, and choose to put our team above ourselves.

Improve constantly

We are constantly looking to improve every piece of the business. We proactively critique ourselves and others in a kind and thoughtful way that translates to practical improvements in the organization. We are pragmatic and consistently implement the obvious fixes that work.

Take ownership and initiative

There are no bystanders here. We proactively identify problems and take full responsibility over getting a strong result. We are self-driven, own our mistakes, and feel deep responsibility over what we’re building.

Action today

We have a small amount of time to do something incredibly hard and meaningful. The pace and intensity of the organization is high. If we can take action today or tomorrow, we will choose to do it today.

Where we work

We are hiring for this position in our San Francisco HQ. We are in person 5 days a week, with one company-wide remote week per month.

What we offer

This role offers market competitive salary, equity, and competitive benefits.

The expected salary range for this position is $220,000 - $315,000 USD