Research Scientist, Frontier Risk Evaluations

Scale AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 197,400 - 246,750; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health insurance

Retirement benefits

Generous PTO

Learning and development stipend

Job summary

An innovative tech company in New York is seeking a Research Scientist focused on Frontier Risk Evaluations. The ideal candidate will contribute to designing and creating evaluation measures for assessing AI risks and will have strong experience in machine learning and technical research. The role includes collaboration with public sector organizations and requires excellent communication skills. This position offers competitive compensation packages including salary, equity, and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• Commitment to promoting safe and trustworthy AI.
• At least three years experience solving complex ML problems.
• Comfortable building evaluation harnesses and prototypes.

Responsibilities

• Design evaluation measures and datasets for ML risk assessments.
• Collaborate with government and other organizations on AI evaluations.
• Publish methodologies and reports for policymakers.

Skills

Technical research collaboration

Machine learning pipelines

Published research in generative AI

Strong communication skills

Education

PhD in a relevant field

Job description

Research Scientist, Frontier Risk Evaluations

Scale Labs, Research Scientist — Frontier Risk Evaluations

As the leading data and evaluation partner for frontier AI companies, Scale plays an integral role in understanding the capabilities and safeguarding AI models and systems. Building on this expertise, Scale Labs has launched a new team focused on policy research to bridge the gap between AI research and global policymakers, enabling informed, scientific decisions about AI risks and capabilities.

Our research tackles the hardest problems in agent robustness, AI control protocols, and AI risk evaluations to help governments, industry, and the public understand and mitigate AI risk while maximizing AI adoption. This team collaborates broadly across industry, the public sector, and academia and regularly publishes our findings. We are actively seeking talented researchers to join us in shaping this vision.

As a Research Scientist focused on Frontier Risk Evaluations, you will design and create evaluation measures, harnesses, and datasets for measuring the risks posed by frontier AI systems. For example, you might do any or all of the following:

• Design and build harnesses to test AI models and systems (including agents) for dangerous capabilities such as security vulnerability exploitation, CBRN uplift, and other high‑risk activities;
• Work with government agencies or other labs to collectively scope and design evaluations to measure and mitigate risks posed by advanced AI systems;
• Publish evaluation methodologies and write technical reports for policymakers.

Ideally you’d have:

• Commitment to our mission of promoting safe, secure, and trustworthy AI deployments in the industry as frontier AI capabilities continue to advance.
• Practical experience conducting technical research collaboratively. You should be comfortable building and instrumenting ML pipelines, writing evaluation harnesses, and quickly turning new ideas from the research literature into working prototypes.
• A track record of published research in machine learning, particularly in generative AI.
• At least three years of experience addressing sophisticated ML problems, whether in a research setting or in product development.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to operate in a cross‑functional team.

Nice to have:

• Experience in crafting evaluations and benchmarks, or a background in data science roles related to LLM technologies.
• Experience with red‑teaming or adversarial testing of AI systems.
• Familiarity with AI safety policy frameworks (e.g., NIST AI RMF, EU AI Act, Korea AI Basic Act).

Research Interviews

Our research interviews are crafted to assess candidates’ skills in practical ML prototyping and debugging, their grasp of research concepts, and their alignment with our organizational culture. We will not ask any LeetCode‑style questions. If you’re excited about advancing AI safety and contributing to our mission, we encourage you to apply, even if your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every requirement.

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You’ll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

Pay transparency: the base salary range for this full‑time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $197,400 – $246,750 USD

Please note: Our policy requires a 90‑day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us: At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world’s most important decisions. Our products provide high‑quality data and full‑stack technologies that power the world’s leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Cisco, DLA Piper, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We are proud to be an inclusive and equal‑opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please see the United States Department of Labor’s Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

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