Job Description

Behind our name : Like fire, AI holds the potential for both immense benefit and significant risk. Just as mastering fire transformed human history, we believe the safe and intentional development of AI will shape the future of our species. Our goal is to tame this new fire.

Goodfire is an AI interpretability research company focused on understanding and intentionally designing advanced AI systems. We believe advances in interpretability will unlock the next frontier of safe and powerful foundation models and that deep research breakthroughs are necessary to make this possible.

Everything we do is in service of that mission. We move fast, take ownership, and constantly push to improve. We believe in acting today rather than tomorrow. We care deeply about the success of the organization and put the team above ourselves.

Goodfire is a public benefit corporation headquartered in San Francisco with a team of the world’s top interpretability researchers and engineers from organizations like OpenAI and DeepMind. We’ve raised $57M from investors like Menlo, Lightspeed and Anthropic and work with customers including Arc Institute, Mayo Clinic, and Rakuten.

The Role :

We’re looking for a Research Scientist to join our team and develop new techniques for understanding and steering large AI models. You’ll work closely with a small, mission driven team of scientists and engineers to conduct novel research, build practical tools, and push the field forward.

Where You Might Contribute :

• Interpretability Mechanisms – Foundational research on how models represent and process information.
• Moonshots – High upside bets on novel techniques that could unlock breakthroughs in model understanding.
• Applied Research & Usability – Translating research into tools for real-world users and enterprise applications.

We’ll determine your pod placement during the interview process based on your background and interests.

Core Responsibilities :

• Conduct original research in interpretability and related fields.
• Prototype techniques to visualize and manipulate internal model structures.
• Collaborate with engineering to turn research into production-ready tools.
• Share your work through publications, demos, and open-source contributions.
• Help define and evolve our research direction.

Who you are :

Goodfire is looking for experienced individuals who embody our values and share our deep commitment to making interpretability accessible. We care deeply about building a team who shares our values :

Put mission and team first

All we do is in service of our mission. We trust each other, deeply care about the success of the organization, and choose to put our team above ourselves.

Improve constantly

We are constantly looking to improve every piece of the business. We proactively critique ourselves and others in a kind and thoughtful way that translates to practical improvements in the organization. We are pragmatic and consistently implement the obvious fixes that work.

Take ownership and initiative

There are no bystanders here. We proactively identify problems and take full responsibility over getting a strong result. We are self-driven, own our mistakes, and feel deep responsibility over what we’re building.

Action today

We have a small amount of time to do something incredibly hard and meaningful. The pace and intensity of the organization is high. If we can take action today or tomorrow, we will choose to do it today.

If you share our values and have at least two years of relevant experience, we encourage you to apply and join us in shaping the future of how we design AI systems.

What We’re Looking For :

• PhD or equivalent experience in ML, computer science, or a quantitative science.
• Deep familiarity with large models and a passion for understanding how they work.
• Fluency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch.
• Strong writing and communication skills for explaining complex ideas.
• Drive to move quickly and take ownership.

Preferred qualifications :

• Experience leading research or contributing to open-source codebases.
• Familiarity with interpretability, alignment, or safe model development.
• Experience in startup or fast-paced lab environments.

This role offers market competitive salary, equity, and competitive benefits. More importantly, youll have the opportunity to work on groundbreaking technology with a world-class team dedicated to ensuring a safe and beneficial future for humanity.

The expected salary range for this position is $200,000 - $400,000 USD.

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Research Scientist • San Francisco, CA, United States

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