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Ai Alignment Jobs (NOW HIRING)

$80 - $100/hr

RLHF, Training, AI## To create truly intelligent and aligned AI, human expertise is indispensable. As an AI Training Specialist, you will be at the cutting edge of AI development, actively shaping ...

Research Scientist Intern, AI Alignment Responsibilities: * Develop novel state-of-the-art algorithms and corresponding systems, leveraging various deep learning techniques * Analyze and improve ...

$120K - $190K/yr

As a scientist, you will take ownership of and accelerate existing AI alignment research agendas. You can publish research findings broadly and engage with the AI alignment community. If you are an ...

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Ai Alignment information

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How much do ai alignment jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for ai alignment in the United States is $99,999.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $95,000.00 and $105,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is AI alignment?

AI alignment refers to the process of ensuring that artificial intelligence systems act in ways that are aligned with human values, intentions, and ethical standards. This field focuses on designing AI models that not only achieve their objectives but also do so safely and beneficially for humanity. As AI systems become more advanced, alignment becomes increasingly important to prevent unintended consequences or harmful behaviors. Researchers in AI alignment work on technical solutions, such as value learning and interpretability, as well as broader ethical and policy considerations.

What are some common challenges faced by professionals working in AI alignment roles?

Professionals in AI alignment roles often encounter the challenge of translating complex ethical principles and human values into machine-understandable objectives. Balancing technical constraints with theoretical considerations requires close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including ethicists, engineers, and product managers. Additionally, the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence demands continuous learning to stay current with new alignment techniques and research findings. Navigating these challenges can be intellectually stimulating and offers significant opportunities for interdisciplinary growth.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as an AI alignment specialist, and why are they important?

To thrive as an AI Alignment Specialist, you need a strong background in computer science, mathematics, and machine learning, often evidenced by an advanced degree in a related field. Familiarity with technical tools such as Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, and formal verification systems is typically required, along with understanding of AI safety principles. Analytical thinking, ethical reasoning, and effective communication are crucial soft skills for success in this role. These skills ensure that AI systems are developed safely, ethically, and in alignment with human values, which is essential for mitigating risks associated with advanced AI.

What is the difference between Ai Alignment vs Data Scientist?

AspectAi AlignmentData Scientist
Required CredentialsAdvanced degrees in AI, Machine Learning, or related fieldsDegree in Data Science, Statistics, Computer Science, or related fields
Work EnvironmentResearch labs, AI development companies, tech firmsTech companies, finance, healthcare, consulting firms
Industry UsageFocuses on ensuring AI systems behave as intendedAnalyzes data to extract insights and build predictive models

While both roles involve advanced technical skills, Ai Alignment specialists focus on aligning AI systems with human values and safety, whereas Data Scientists analyze data to inform business decisions. The roles often overlap in AI research environments but serve different primary objectives.

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What are popular job titles for Ai Alignment?

Popular job titles for Ai Alignment:

Infographic showing various Ai Alignment job openings in the United States as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 76% Full Time, 19% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 63% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 33% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $99,999 per year, or $48.1 per hour.

Research Engineer -- AI Alignment & Evaluation

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Full-time

Posted 14 days ago


Key responsibilities

  • Design and build evaluation environments for frontier AI models.

  • Own evaluation projects from concept to refinement, including testing and measurement.

  • Work with LLM-based agents to perform technical tasks, review outputs, and identify errors.


Job description

Research Engineer — AI Alignment & Evaluation

AI Safety / Research Engineering | San Francisco, CA | Hybrid / In-Person

About the Company

We are representing a high-growth AI research organization working at the intersection of frontier model evaluation, AI safety, and security.

The team develops sophisticated evaluation environments designed to surface undesirable or misaligned model behavior and help leading AI organizations better understand how advanced systems behave under complex, long-horizon conditions.

This is a technically rigorous environment for engineers who are interested in AI alignment, agent behavior, model evaluation, and building systems that help make increasingly capable AI more reliable and controllable.

The Role

This is an opportunity to join a small, highly technical team as a Research Engineer with significant end-to-end ownership.

You will independently design and build evaluation environments that test frontier AI systems for subtle forms of undesirable behavior. You will own the full lifecycle of each environment, from initial concept and failure-mode identification through implementation, grader development, testing, measurement, and refinement.

A significant part of the role involves working directly with advanced LLM agents: prompting them to perform technical tasks, reviewing their output, identifying subtle errors, and making judgment calls where current models still fall short.

The role is ideal for a strong software engineer or technical researcher who enjoys ambiguous problems, learns new domains quickly, and is deeply interested in AI alignment and security.

What You'll Do
  • Design and build complex evaluation environments for frontier AI models.
  • Own evaluation projects end to end, including ideation, implementation, testing, grading, measurement, and iteration.
  • Investigate potential model failure modes and identify ways advanced agents may exploit or circumvent intended constraints.
  • Develop and improve software infrastructure used to isolate, reproduce, and evaluate model behavior.
  • Work extensively with LLM-based agents to accelerate implementation and research workflows.
  • Review agent-generated work critically and identify subtle technical or conceptual errors.
  • Build long-horizon tasks that operate near the edge of current model capabilities.
  • Apply strong qualitative judgment when evaluating behavior that cannot be captured through simple automated metrics.
  • Rapidly learn unfamiliar technical domains as required by individual evaluation environments.
  • Share findings, lessons, and technical context with a highly collaborative research and engineering team.
What We're Looking For
  • 1+ years of experience in software engineering, machine learning engineering, technical research, or a closely related field.
  • Strong traditional software engineering fundamentals.
  • Proficiency with Python.
  • Strong interest in AI alignment, AI safety, or AI security.
  • Ability to reason carefully about complex systems and ambiguous failure modes.
  • Strong conceptual judgment and the ability to think through how an autonomous agent may interpret or exploit a task.
  • Ability to learn new technical domains quickly.
  • Experience using LLMs or AI agents effectively as part of technical workflows.
  • Strong ability to assess whether agent-generated work is correct, including when errors are subtle.
  • Comfortable taking full ownership of technically demanding projects with limited oversight.
  • High standards for quality, execution, and accountability.
Nice to Have
  • Experience building evaluation frameworks, benchmarks, simulation environments, or agent-based systems.
  • Exposure to frontier language models or autonomous agent workflows.
  • Background in AI safety, alignment research, adversarial testing, or security.
  • Experience designing tasks that require multi-step or long-horizon reasoning.
  • Research experience involving model behavior, reward hacking, robustness, or control mechanisms.
Why This Role Is Exciting
  • Own technically challenging research environments from concept through final evaluation.
  • Work directly with state-of-the-art AI systems and agentic workflows.
  • Tackle problems at the frontier of AI safety, model behavior, and alignment.
  • Join a small technical team where individual work has meaningful visibility and impact.
  • Operate with substantial autonomy while receiving frequent technical feedback.
  • Build expertise across a wide range of domains rather than working within a narrow product surface.
  • Contribute to work focused on understanding and mitigating undesirable AI behavior rather than simply increasing model capabilities.
Work Model
  • Full-time position.
  • San Francisco-based role with regular in-office collaboration expected.
  • Flexibility around hybrid working arrangements.
  • Open to candidates willing to relocate.
  • Visa transfers and new visa sponsorship may be available.
  • Work is highly ownership-driven, with emphasis on the quality of what you ship.

Confidential details removed: salary, client name, founder names, exact address, company links, investor names, funding details, exact team size, founding year, and highly identifiable wording.