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Research Engineer - Novel AI Platforms for Multiscale Alignment

Future of Life InstituteAnywhere (Open Globally)CARMA
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Salary
$140K - $210K USD
Job type
Full-Time, Contract
Work mode
Remote
Posted
12 Jun 2025
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

The Future of Life Institute seeks a Research Engineer for a full-time, contract role within the Alignment of Dynamical Cognitive Systems program to develop novel AI platforms and practical LLM agents. This global remote position is well-suited for a skilled technologist who wants to combine platform development with alignment research to promote AI safety.

Role Overview

The Research Engineer will co-design and develop systems supporting safety research, internal tools, and community resources. The position focuses on creating environments to shape multi-agent dynamics and implement cooperative AI architectures with robust alignment properties. The selected candidate will build technical infrastructure to investigate experimental AI alignment and control approaches while collaborating with researchers to bring theoretical concepts into practice.

Key Responsibilities

Research and develop AI systems and platforms for safety research, internal tooling, and safety community support.
Design and implement architectures for agent execution environments and interaction platforms.
Develop optimization algorithms for multi-objective and cooperative AI systems.
Create mechanisms for conflict resolution and preference aggregation in multi-agent settings.
Implement testing frameworks and example environments to validate theoretical approaches.
Build middleware components that facilitate secure and efficient agent communication.
Architect and develop reusable software components for AI alignment research.
Document system architectures, APIs, and implementation details.
Collaborate on technical publications and research presentations.
Contribute to both practical implementations and theoretical research in AI alignment.
Support the evaluation and refinement of research prototypes.

Requirements

MS or PhD in Computer Science, AI, or related field, or equivalent experience.
Experience with dynamic plan recognition, activity recognition, dynamic multicriteria decision making, multi-agent systems, or AI builder platforms.
Strong programming skills in both Python and Java.
Demonstrated ability to relatively independently drive technical projects from concept to implementation.
Familiarity with techniques for AI alignment, control, safety, or related research areas.
Experience developing middleware, frameworks, or platforms.
Breadth of experience in machine learning and AI systems architecture.
Literacy in semi-formal semantics and excellent communication and technical documentation abilities.

Nice to Have

Publications in AI alignment, AI safety, or related research areas.
Familiarity with varied multi-objective optimization techniques, contextual pragmatics, and constraint satisfaction problems.
Experience developing novel multi-agent architectures, LLMs, and integrating them into agent architectures.
Experience with distributed systems, platform development, security methods for multi-party computation, and open-source project contributions.
Understanding of basic game theory, social choice theory concepts, metacognitive systems, metareasoning, or dynamical cognitive approaches.
Experience building systems that actively manage trade-offs between competing objectives.

Skills and Tools

Python
Java
LLMs
Multi-agent systems
AI alignment and safety frameworks
Middleware and distributed systems architecture

Salary and Benefits

Annual Salary: $140,000 - $210,000 USD
Employment Type: Full-Time, Contract

About the Company

The Center for AI Risk Management and Alignment (CARMA) works to help society navigate the complex and potentially catastrophic risks arising from increasingly powerful AI systems. The mission is to lower risks to humanity and the biosphere from transformative AI through rigorous analysis, policy frameworks, technical safety approaches, and global perspectives. CARMA is a fiscally-sponsored project of Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation. CARMA is an equal opportunity employer.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit the official Future of Life Institute careers page to submit an application.

Skills and tech stack

PythonJavaLLM

Questions candidates ask

What is the compensation for the Research Engineer position?

The annual salary range for this role is between $140,000 and $210,000 USD.

Is this a remote position?

Yes, this position is open globally and can be performed from anywhere on a remote basis.

What programming languages are required?

Candidates must have strong programming skills in both Python and Java.

What educational background is expected?

Applicants should hold an MS or PhD in Computer Science, AI, or a related field, or possess equivalent experience.

How does employment work for candidates outside the United States?

Candidates outside the U.S. will be engaged as independent contractors with project-focused responsibilities because visa sponsorship is not available and the fiscal sponsor's infrastructure only supports U.S.-authorized employees.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Future of Life Institute careers page.

Apply on company site