Research Scientist Jobs at Scale AI with Visa Sponsorship
Research Scientist jobs at Scale AI involve building and evaluating the data pipelines that train frontier AI models. The company sponsors a range of work visas for this function, making it a realistic target for international candidates with backgrounds in machine learning, NLP, or RLHF research.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
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 to make 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.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Research Scientist working on Safety Post-Training you will develop and apply post-training methods and interpretability techniques to make frontier AI systems safer, and better understood by researchers and policymakers. For example, you might:
- Design and run post-training pipelines to study how training choices affect model safety, robustness, and alignment properties.
- Develop interpretability-informed evaluations that reveal how and why models produce unsafe, deceptive, or otherwise undesirable behaviors, and use those insights to guide targeted mitigations.
- Collaborate with policymakers, engineers, and other researchers to translate post-training and interpretability findings into actionable safety standards, evaluation benchmarks, and best practices.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Commitment to our mission of promoting safe, secure, and trustworthy AI deployments in the industry as frontier AI capabilities continue to advance.
- Experience with post-training and RL techniques such as RLHF, DPO, GRPO, and similar approaches.
- 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.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with mechanistic interpretability, probing, or other techniques for understanding model internals.
- Familiarity with red-teaming or adversarial evaluation of post-trained models.
- Experience studying failure modes introduced or masked by post-training, such as reward hacking, sycophancy, or alignment faking.
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
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 and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, 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.
LOCATION
Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $216,000—$270,000 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 the 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 believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why 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 accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.
We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.
PLEASE NOTE:
We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.
INTRODUCTION
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 to make 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.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Research Scientist working on Safety Post-Training you will develop and apply post-training methods and interpretability techniques to make frontier AI systems safer, and better understood by researchers and policymakers. For example, you might:
- Design and run post-training pipelines to study how training choices affect model safety, robustness, and alignment properties.
- Develop interpretability-informed evaluations that reveal how and why models produce unsafe, deceptive, or otherwise undesirable behaviors, and use those insights to guide targeted mitigations.
- Collaborate with policymakers, engineers, and other researchers to translate post-training and interpretability findings into actionable safety standards, evaluation benchmarks, and best practices.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Commitment to our mission of promoting safe, secure, and trustworthy AI deployments in the industry as frontier AI capabilities continue to advance.
- Experience with post-training and RL techniques such as RLHF, DPO, GRPO, and similar approaches.
- 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.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with mechanistic interpretability, probing, or other techniques for understanding model internals.
- Familiarity with red-teaming or adversarial evaluation of post-trained models.
- Experience studying failure modes introduced or masked by post-training, such as reward hacking, sycophancy, or alignment faking.
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
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 and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, 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.
LOCATION
Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco, New York, Seattle is: $216,000—$270,000 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 the 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 believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why 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 accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.
We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.
PLEASE NOTE:
We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.
See all Research Scientist Jobs at Scale AI
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Research Scientist Jobs at Scale AI.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Research Scientist Jobs at Scale AI
Align your research background to RLHF
Scale AI's Research Scientist hiring centers on reinforcement learning from human feedback and model evaluation. Frame your CV around data quality, human feedback loops, or fine-tuning work rather than pure academic research to match what hiring managers are screening for.
Request an H-1B before OPT expires
If you're on F-1 OPT, confirm your offer timeline leaves room for H-1B cap registration in March. USCIS requires the petition to be filed by April 1 for an October 1 start, so a late offer can strand you outside the window.
Verify Scale AI's E-Verify enrollment before applying
STEM OPT extensions require your employer to participate in E-Verify. Confirming Scale AI's enrollment status through the official E-Verify employer search before your final round saves you from a last-minute compliance issue that could invalidate your work authorization.
Target roles tied to specific model contracts
Scale AI staffs Research Scientists around active government and commercial AI contracts. Roles tied to defense or federal clients often move faster through headcount approval, which shortens the gap between offer and I-129 filing.
Understand the PERM timeline for EB-2 sponsorship
If your goal is a Green Card via EB-2, DOL's PERM labor certification typically takes 12 to 18 months before the I-140 can be filed. Ask your Scale AI recruiter when the company typically initiates PERM to plan your long-term status correctly.
Use Migrate Mate to surface open Research Scientist roles
Research Scientist openings at Scale AI are not always prominently listed across general job boards. Use Migrate Mate to filter active roles by visa type so you're applying to positions where sponsorship is already confirmed rather than following up to ask.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Scale AI sponsor H-1B visas for Research Scientists?
Yes, Scale AI sponsors H-1B visas for Research Scientists. The role qualifies as a specialty occupation under USCIS criteria given its requirement for a bachelor's degree or higher in a field such as computer science, machine learning, or statistics. If you're currently on OPT or another nonimmigrant status, your offer letter should specify the intended visa pathway before cap registration opens each March.
How do I apply for Research Scientist jobs at Scale AI?
Applications go through Scale AI's careers portal, where Research Scientist roles are listed under the Research or Applied AI teams. You can also browse confirmed visa-sponsoring openings on Migrate Mate, which filters roles by sponsorship type. Be ready to complete a technical screen covering model evaluation, data pipeline design, or RLHF methodology, depending on the team's focus.
Which visa types does Scale AI commonly use for Research Scientists?
Scale AI sponsors H-1B, E-3 visa, TN visa, F-1 OPT, F-1 CPT, and J-1 visas for Research Scientists, along with immigrant pathways including EB-2 and EB-3. Australian citizens are a strong fit for the E-3 visa, which has no lottery. Canadian and Mexican nationals in qualifying research occupations can explore the TN visa category, which does not require USCIS approval and processes quickly at the border.
What qualifications does Scale AI expect for a Research Scientist?
Scale AI typically requires a graduate degree in machine learning, computer science, statistics, or a closely related quantitative field for Research Scientist roles. Hands-on experience with large language model evaluation, RLHF pipelines, or human feedback data quality is weighted heavily. Published research is valued but not always required. Demonstrated ability to work across engineering and policy teams on applied AI problems is a differentiator.
How do I plan my timeline if Scale AI is sponsoring my H-1B?
H-1B cap-subject petitions must be filed by April 1 for an October 1 start date. If your OPT expires before October 1, a 60-day cap-gap extension may bridge the gap, but your offer timing needs to align with this. USCIS processes standard H-1B petitions in three to six months. Confirm with Scale AI's immigration team early whether premium processing is available for your position.