Research Scientist, Human‑AI Perception and Interaction Research - PhD New College Grad 2026, R[...]

NVIDIA; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 168,000 - 264,500; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

A leading technology company is seeking a passionate AI research professional to join their Human Performance and Experience team. You'll work on advancing AI in gaming and robotics, contributing to innovative research and prototypes. The ideal applicant will hold a Ph.D. and have a strong background in programming including Python, Rust, or C++. This role offers a competitive salary range of $168,000 to $264,500 based on experience and location, along with equity and excellent benefits. Applications accepted until January 25, 2026.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. or equivalent research experience in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Cognitive Science or related field.
• Excellent track record of publications in top-tier conferences.
• Experience with studying human behaviors in gaming, driving, or interacting with robots.
• Proficiency with programming languages such as Python, Rust, and C++.
• Experience with AI model training and evaluation frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Propose and test innovative research ideas.
• Publish at top conferences and patent inventions.
• Collaborate with research team members and mentor interns.
• Create interactive demonstrations of research ideas.
• Participate in technology transfer with engineers.

Skills

Python

Rust

C++

AI model training

Machine learning

Studying human behaviors

Education

Ph.D. or equivalent in a relevant field

Tools

PyTorch

Job description

NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It’s a unique legacy of innovation that’s fueled by great technology—and amazing people. Today, we’re tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what’s never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world’s best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you’ll be immersed in a diverse, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.

We, the Human Performance and Experience (HPX) team at NVIDIA Research, strive to lead AI innovation by deeply understanding humans. We are looking for individuals who are passionate about advancing AI in gaming, robotics, and more by employing human intelligence and human interaction to shape perception, learning, and behavior. We bridge vision science, HCI, and HRI to create systems that perceive, learn, and collaborate with people safely and effectively. You will be working in a team of research scientists and engineers from varied backgrounds and will closely collaborate with product engineers. Join us in redefining the future of AI and human interaction!

What You\'ll Be Doing

• Propose, research, prototype and test innovative research ideas.
• Publish at top conferences and patent novel inventions.
• Collaborate with other research team members, external researchers, and mentor interns.
• Create working interactive demonstrations to showcase your research ideas.
• Participate in technology transfer with engineers around NVIDIA as ideas \"graduate\" from research to product.

What We Need To See

• Ph.D. or equivalent research experience in Computer Science/Electrical Engineering/Cognitive Science or related field.
• Excellent track record of publications in top-tier conferences (SIGGRAPH, CHI, HRI, ICRA, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICML, CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, CoG, ETRA, etc.).
• Experience with studying human behaviors in related application domains such as gaming, driving, interacting with robots, etc.
• Proficiency with Python, Rust, and/or C++.
• Experience with AI model training and evaluation frameworks, like PyTorch.

Ways to stand out from the crowd

• Demonstrated public portfolio (e.g. repositories, OSS contributions, notebooks, packages, or technical blog posts with code).
• Experience with multi-node, multi-GPU training and inference workflows.
• Familiarity with and interest in modern deep learning models, including working with large-scale, multi-modal foundation models (such as recent LLMs, VLMs).
• A track record of applying human behavior models to machine learning applications, or applying machine learning to understand or model human behavior.

Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 168,000 USD - 264,500 USD.

You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.

Applications for this job will be accepted at least until January 25, 2026.

This posting is for an existing vacancy.

NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.

NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

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