Research Scientist

Phonic, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Top-tier compensation

Free meals

Comprehensive healthcare

401(k) plan

Regular team celebrations

Job summary

Phonic, Inc. in San Francisco is seeking a Research Scientist to lead innovative research that advances voice AI technology. In this role, you will identify key research problems, conduct rigorous experiments, and take ownership of resulting improvements in our models. You will collaborate with world-class researchers and engineers in an engaging and dynamic environment.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in AI research and the ability to communicate effectively. We offer competitive compensation, comprehensive healthcare, and meals in a vibrant office setting.

Qualifications

• A track record of original research identifying significant problems and developing novel solutions.
• Deep expertise in speech synthesis, ASR, or related areas.
• Fluency in mathematics and optimization techniques.

Responsibilities

• Drive original research that influences Phonic's voice AI products.
• Design and execute experiments to improve models.
• Collaborate with engineers to transition from prototypes to production.

Skills

Research methodology

Speech synthesis

Audio modeling

Communication skills

Education

PhD in a relevant field

Job description

About Phonic

Phonic is a product and research lab focused on powering the most realistic, human‑like voice AI conversations. We've re-thought the entire stack in pursuit of this goal, from models to product, to create voice agents that feel like they truly understand you, respond emotionally and perform agentic tasks with frontier intelligence.

Our team includes top‑tier AI researchers, international olympiad medalists, and former founders.

Our customers include companies that are building voice‑native AI products in industries such as customer support, healthcare, and logistics. We have raised over $30M from tier 1 VCs.

About the Team

Phonic has a very talent‑dense and close‑knit team. We collaborate with high trust and are constantly trying to improve how we work to deliver world‑class research and product. Everyone takes ownership in what they do and they aren’t afraid to dive in headfirst into new problems. Our team includes top‑tier AI researchers, international olympiad medalists, and former founders and we’re fully in‑person in our SF office.

About The Role

As a Research Scientist at Phonic, you'll drive original research that pushes the boundary of what's possible in voice AI. You'll own research directions end‑to‑end - from identifying the right problems to designing experiments, developing novel methods, and seeing results through to production impact. Your work will directly shape the models at the core of Phonic's product.

You'll be working alongside a team of world‑class researchers and engineers who move fast and hold a high bar. This isn't a role focused on incremental improvements, we're looking for someone with the taste to identify what matters, the rigor to pursue it correctly, and the drive to ship it. You'll be fully in‑person in our SF office.

What You’ll Do

• Identify high‑leverage research problems across the voice AI stack: synthesis, modeling, alignment, perception, and take full ownership of driving them forward
• Design and run rigorous experiments, then translate what works into shipped improvements to our models and product
• Work directly with research engineers to move fast from prototype to production
• Help set the scientific direction of the team and raise the bar on how we do research

What You’ll Bring

• A track record of original research - you've found a real problem, developed a novel approach, and seen it through
• Deep expertise in at least one of: speech synthesis, ASR, audio modeling, language modeling, or multimodal learning
• Fluency in the math, probability, optimization, linear algebra, and the ability to reason about model behavior from first principles
• You move fluidly between ideas and implementation; you don't just write papers, you build things
• Clear, precise written and verbal communication

Nice To Have

• Publications at top venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, Interspeech, ICASSP, ACL, etc.)
• Experience with generative modeling, diffusion, flow matching, codec‑based audio, or autoregressive models
• Familiarity with RLHF or preference optimization
• You are a former founder

Benefits

• Top‑tier compensation: in order to get the best talent, we provide salary and equity that recognize your skillset
• Meals: free breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided in the office
• Healthcare: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision
• We have regular off‑sites and team celebrations
• 401(k) – Let us help you plan for the future. We’ve got you covered.