TL;DR

• We are hiring a research analyst to develop datasets that inform about key trends in machine learning.
• This role is fully remote and we are able and happy to hire in most countries.
• Compensation ranges from $60,000 to $70,000 USD pre-tax.
• Examples of activities are extracting insights from machine-learning papers, staying abreast of new research, maintaining our internal datasets and working with researchers to understand the data needs of their projects.
• The deadline to apply is December 14th. 

About the role and team 

We are looking to hire a research analyst to work with us to develop datasets that inform us and our stakeholders about key trends in machine learning. Epoch’s research has informed several AI research organizations, been cited in leading publications like The Economist, and underpins Our World In Data’s AI visualizations. This role will directly impact the quality and quantity of the research Epoch is capable of, and we’re excited to work with someone who can help us continue to improve and uncover important insights into AI progress.

This role is fully remote and we expect to be legally able to hire in most countries. If you are unsure whether we can hire in the country you are based in, please email careers@rethinkpriorities.org. While we welcome applicants from all time zones, you may be expected to attend meetings during working hours between UTC-8 and UTC+3 time zones, where most of our staff are based. This role is open to full-time and part-time candidates, although full-time candidates are preferred. 
 

Key Responsibilities

As a Research Data Analyst, your main responsibilities will include:

• Reading, summarizing, and extracting key data and insights from machine-learning and other technical papers
• Proactively staying abreast of new research and finding important papers/developments for us to be tracking
• Maintaining our internal datasets - making sure our data is high-quality, clean, and legible to researchers
• Working closely with researchers to understand the data needs of their projects

What we are looking for

We think you would be a great candidate for this role if you:

• Have a strong familiarity with machine learning methods and developments. Direct research experience isn’t necessary, but the ability to follow new papers and parse key information succinctly is important.
• Have experience working with data in Python and Pandas.
• Are highly self-directed and passionate about machine-learning research - we’re hoping you will be finding and reading papers we might not have otherwise come across or dug into.
• Are comfortable with remote work and asynchronous collaboration using G Suite and other technologies (we're a remote-first organization with staff in multiple time zones).

If you don’t tick all these boxes but think you would be a great fit, please consider applying anyway!

What we Offer

Compensation

• Annual salary between the following ranges for a full-time position, prorated for part-time work:
  • $60,000 - $70,000 USD pre-tax
  • £50663 - £59106 GBP pre-tax 
  • €56,777 - €66,240 EUR pre-tax
• The exact salary will be based on the candidate’s prior relevant experience and proficiency demonstrated during the work trial.
• As we can hire staff in many countries, compensation is not restricted to the major currencies listed above, and payments may be made in different currencies and payment intervals depending on the location of applicants and legal requirements.

Other Benefits

• Flexible work schedule
• Flexible work location—we’re 100% remote, but we bring the team together periodically for retreats
• Generous benefits for permanent staff, including:
  • Comprehensive health coverage
  • Stipends for workplace equipment
  • Unlimited vacation and personal time off (several additional weeks in practice)
  • 6 months of paid parental leave, regardless of gender
  • Opportunities to grow/advance your career and engage in professional development, including opportunities to (further) test and build fit for research roles, AI research roles, and roles in the effective altruism community. 
  • A caring team that looks out for each other, is friendly, respectful, and values having a healthy work-life balance 
  • Low bureaucracy, and high support from operations staff (when required)
  • We don’t provide snacks but we could mail you a box of Oreos if you want!

Additional Information

Extension requests: We will try to accommodate extension requests that are made before the deadline and are up to one (1) week. We generally cannot accommodate extension requests made on or after the application deadline, and for longer than seven (7) days, or late submissions, to ensure fairness to other applicants.

Language: Please submit all of your application materials in English and note that we require professional-level English proficiency.

Accessibility: We’re committed to running an inclusive and accessible application process. We warmly invite you to reach out to careers@rethinkpriorities.org with any questions or accessibility requests such as chat box use during interviews.

Travel: A majority of our staff travels a few times per year for conferences, team and all-staff retreats, coworking, as well as other work-related purposes. In most cases, travel is not mandatory, but encouraged. Please do not be discouraged from applying due to travel restrictions if travel is not listed as an essential requirement for the role. Where possible, “virtual participation” option could also be offered.

About Epoch

Epoch, a fiscally sponsored project of Rethink Priorities, is a new research organization that works to support AI strategy and improve forecasts around the development of Transformative Artificial Intelligence (TAI) – AI systems that have the potential to have an effect on society as large as that of the industrial revolution.

Epoch seeks to clarify when and how TAI capabilities will be developed. We see these two problems as core questions for informing AI strategy decisions by grantmakers, policy-makers, and technical researchers. We believe that to make good progress on these questions we need to advance towards a field of AI forecasting. We are committed to developing tools, gathering data and creating a scientific ecosystem to make collective progress towards this goal.

Our work at Epoch encompasses two interconnected lines of research:

• The analysis of trends in Machine Learning. We aim to gather data on what has been happening in the field during the last two decades, explain it, and extrapolate the results to inform our views on the future of AI.
• The development of quantitative forecasting models related to the development of advanced AI capabilities. We seek to use techniques from economics and statistics to predict when and how fast AI will be developed.

Some of our accomplishments since we were founded in 2022 include:

• An ongoing collaboration with Our World in Data, who use our database to maintain a collection of graphs related to trends in Artificial Intelligence (an example). 
• Our work featuring in The Economist.
• Publishing many high-quality papers and reports in our website.
• Our work being used by people at Anthropic, GovAI, among others, to inform AI Governance.

Please email careers@rethinkpriorities.org if you have any questions about this role.