Research Scientist, AI Safety and Alignment, DeepMind

Google LLC; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 174,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

401(k) match

Paid time off

Sick time

Maternity leave

Baby bonding leave

Holidays

Job summary

Google DeepMind in Seattle, WA seeks a Research Scientist for AI safety and alignment to advance scalable, production-grade safety measures for frontier models. You will design experiments, study model behaviors, and publish findings with collaborations across disciplines.

Lead efforts on interpretability, post-training alignment, and empirical safeguards, contributing to real-world deployments while maintaining a high-trust research environment and strong emphasis on safety and ethics.

Qualifications

• PhD in CS/ML/AI/Math/Physics or related STEM field or equivalent practical experience.
• 1 year of experience initiating, scoping, and executing research in AI safety, alignment, or mechanistic interpretability.
• Experience evaluating, steering, red-teaming, or implementing empirical safeguards on LLMs or frontier systems.
• Experience in Python or C++, deep learning frameworks (e.g., JAX, PyTorch), and agentic workflows or tools.

Responsibilities

• Drive project work by defining data structures, framework, design, and evaluation metrics for research solution development.
• Identify problems in existing technology and engage stakeholders to address them.
• Author research papers to share and generate impact across function and community.
• Identify new research areas by collaborating with external/internal partners and plan long-term strategy.
• Grow research business by sharing trends and best practices within the community.

Skills

Python/C++

Deep learning frameworks

Agentic workflows

First-author papers

Education

PhD in CS/ML/AI/Math/Phys or related

Tools

PyTorch

JAX

Job description

Research Scientist, AI Safety and Alignment, DeepMind

Share Research Scientist, AI Safety and Alignment, DeepMind

DeepMind Seattle, WA, USA

In accordance with Washington state law, we are highlighting our comprehensive benefits package, which is available to all eligible US based employees. Benefits for this role include:

• Health, dental, vision, life, disability insurance
• Retirement Benefits: 401(k) with company match
• Paid Time Off: 20 days of vacation per year, accruing at a rate of 6.15 hours per pay period for the first five years of employment
• Sick Time: 40 hours/year (increased to 69 hours/year for Seattle) including 5 discretionary sick days per instance
• Maternity Leave (Short-Term Disability + Baby Bonding): 28-30 weeks
• Baby Bonding Leave: 18 weeks
• Holidays: 13 paid days per year

Qualifications

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics, Physics, or a related STEM discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 1 year of experience initiating, scoping, and executing research in AI safety, alignment, or mechanistic interpretability.
• Experience evaluating, steering, red teaming, or implementing empirical safeguards on Large Language Models (LLMs) or frontier systems.
• Experience in Python or C++, deep learning frameworks (e.g., JAX, PyTorch), and agentic workflows or tools.
• First-author publications at machine learning conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, or COLM).

Preferred qualifications

• Post-doctoral or industry experience driving prototype-driven safety projects, with recognized publications, seminal papers, or open-source research frameworks.
• Experience in interdisciplinary research bridging cognitive science, computer science, machine learning, and technological ethics to address systemic AI risks.
• Deep expertise in post-training alignment, reinforcement learning, reasoning models, and agentic or mechanistic interpretability to diagnose machine behaviors.
• Demonstrated track record of translating theoretical alignment and safety findings into scalable, production-grade mitigations on live frontier models.
• Exceptional technical communication skills with a proven ability to influence cross-functional engineering, product, and safety policy stakeholders.

About the job

As an organization, Google maintains a portfolio of research projects driven by fundamental research, new product innovation, product contribution and infrastructure goals, while providing individuals and teams the freedom to emphasize specific types of work. As a Research Scientist, you'll setup large-scale tests and deploy promising ideas quickly and broadly, managing deadlines and deliverables while applying the latest theories to develop new and improved products, processes, or technologies. From creating experiments and prototyping implementations to designing new architectures, our research scientists work on real-world problems that span the breadth of computer science, such as machine (and deep) learning, data mining, natural language processing, hardware and software performance analysis, improving compilers for mobile platforms, as well as core search and much more.

As a Research Scientist, you'll also actively contribute to the wider research community by sharing and publishing your findings, with ideas inspired by internal projects as well as from collaborations with research programs at partner universities and technical institutes all over the world.

The Deep Understanding team at Google DeepMind focuses on understanding machine behavior, capabilities, and limitations to safely empower humans. Led by Principal Scientist Been Kim, our team works at the intersection of empirical science and practical engineering. We prioritize concrete safety wins over conventional paper-writing cycles. While we solve mid- and long-term safety questions for future frontier models, our day-to-day work is grounded in solving real vulnerabilities in live systems. We maintain a sustainable, high-trust research environment where independent thinking is expected, and success is defined by how safe and reliable our models are in the hands of real users.

Artificial intelligence will be one of humanity’s most transformative inventions. At Google DeepMind, we are a pioneering AI lab with exceptional interdisciplinary teams focused on advancing AI development to solve complex global challenges and accelerate high-quality product innovation for billions of users. We use our technologies for widespread public benefit and scientific discovery, ensuring safety and ethics are always our highest priority.

We are pushing the boundaries across multiple domains. Our global teams offer diverse learning opportunities and varied career pathways for those driven to achieve exceptional results through collective effort. Individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

US: $174000 - $252000 (USD) + 15% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google .

• Drive project work by defining the data structure, framework, design, and evaluation metrics for research solution development and implementation. Identify timelines and obtain resources needed.
• Identify defined problems/gaps in existing technology and engage stakeholders and leaders to address them.
• Author research papers to share and generate impact of research results across function and in the research community.
• Identify new and upcoming research areas by interacting with potential external and internal collaborators. Help in developing long-term research strategy and plans to expand the impact of Google research.
• Help in growing research business by sharing research trends and best practices within the community.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. We are committed to building a workforce that is representative of the users we serve, creating a culture of belonging, and providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), expecting or parents-to-be, criminal histories consistent with legal requirements, or any other basis protected by law. See also Google's EEO Policy , Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal , Belonging at Google , and How we hire .

Google is a global company and, in order to facilitate efficient collaboration and communication globally, English proficiency is a requirement for all roles unless stated otherwise in the job posting.

Equity is granted exclusively and discretionarily by Alphabet Inc. on the basis of an agreement concluded between you and Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is your sole contractual partner with respect to equity grants. GSU grants are not guaranteed, are discretionary, are subject to approval by the Alphabet Inc. board of directors or its delegate, the terms of the relevant Alphabet Inc. stock plan, and your grant agreement. They have no impact on statutory payments. Current or past grants do not confer an acquired right.