Senior Program Scientist

Job title: Senior Program Scientist

About the Role

Senior Program Scientist will provide technical leadership and people management across the AI Institute, enabling high-impact AI research funding, instrument development, convening, ecosystem building, and thought leadership. This role is not traditional research or industry work; success comes from empowering researchers and institutions to tackle the hardest AI challenges through strategic funding and enabling infrastructure. The goal is to position Schmidt Sciences' AI Institute as the premier funder of AI scientific research globally and influence the next decade of discovery.

What You'll Do

• Technical Evaluation and Program Development: Provide technical advice to existing programs and major awards of the AI Institute. As needed, work with team members to develop new programs. Current explorations include AI interpretability, evolution of communication of multi-agent systems, post-transistor AI hardware, and AI-enabled simulation of scientific processes.
• Support existing AI Institute programs by providing networking assistance, scientific expertise, and mentorship, as necessary, and by working closely and collaboratively with the teams responsible for delivery. Contribute to the team’s assessment of expressions of interest and research proposals.
• External Engagement and Ecosystem Building: Act as a conduit for bringing in innovative ideas and perspectives from the AI community, actively engaging with stakeholders to identify emerging trends and opportunities for collaboration.

What We're Looking For

• Advanced degree (e.g., PhD), from an accredited institution, with a focus on artificial intelligence
• 10+ years of academic and industry experience in artificial intelligence
• Deep understanding of modern machine learning, including deep learning, probabilistic modeling, generative models, reinforcement learning, and large-scale representation learning
• Experience leading teams and managing technical staff
• Hands-on experience designing, training, and evaluating state-of-the-art models (e.g., foundation models, multimodal systems, agentic AI, simulation-based models)
• Demonstrated track record of scientific accomplishments, evidenced by peer-reviewed publications, patents, successful grant applications, or contributions to innovative industry projects
• Ability to critically evaluate scientific, technical, and other AI-related claims in grant proposals and other technical opportunities and emerging methods
• Deep relationships in the AI community and experience working with AI-focused institutions
• Experience producing technical writing for expert and general audiences
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and a record of impact in high-intensity, team-based environments
• Sense of urgency in driving work to completion
• The highest integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality
• Be able to travel within the U.S. and internationally on a regular basis as needed

Nice to Have

• Hands-on AI Experience: Experience building prototypes, benchmarks, or proof-of-concept systems to test scientific hypotheses or assess research investments. Strong fluency in ML engineering tools and best practices (Python, PyTorch/JAX/TF, data pipelines, MLOps, evaluation frameworks). Experience evaluating the scalability, data requirements, compute needs, and infrastructure implications of ambitious AI projects.