Entry Level Cognitive Science Research Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary:
Basis Research Institute is a nonprofit applied AI research organization focused on understanding and building intelligence. The Research Scientist role involves developing computational theories of scientific reasoning applied to robotics and embodied intelligence, while collaborating with an interdisciplinary team to tackle fundamental questions in AI.
Responsibilities:
• Develop computational theories of intelligence specific to program synthesis and neuro-symbolic methods, focusing on synthesizing control programs, learning interpretable models, or bridging symbolic reasoning with neural learning.
• Design and implement novel algorithms that push the boundaries of sample efficiency, generalization, interpretability, or robustness in embodied AI systems.
• Collaborate across specializations to integrate world modeling with planning, symbolic reasoning with neural learning, and high-level objectives with low-level control.
• Validate research on physical systems by working with hardware engineers to test algorithms on real robots, addressing the sim-to-real gap and practical deployment challenges.
• Work with domain experts inside and outside Basis to identify impactful applications of MARA technology in scientific discovery, manufacturing, or other domains.
• Distill insights from problem-solving into general mathematical and computational theories that advance our understanding of intelligence.
• Develop and maintain open-source software that enables reproducible research and broader community engagement with MARA technologies.
• (Optionally) Publish and present findings in journals and conferences to establish thought leadership in embodied AI and scientific reasoning.
• Contribute to the culture and direction of Basis by modeling scientific rigor, creative problem-solving, and commitment to advancing societal capabilities.
Qualifications:
Required:
• Demonstrated an ability to do scientific research that is of high quality. Possible ways to demonstrate this include publications at top venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, POPL, PLDI), technical reports, and impactful software projects.
• Deep expertise in Program Synthesis & Neuro-symbolic Methods: Domain-specific languages, program induction, verifiable control, neuro-symbolic integration.
• Experience with combining neural networks with symbolic reasoning or program generation.
• Strong mathematical and computational foundations including probability theory, optimization, linear algebra, and the ability to implement complex algorithms from first principles.
• Comfortable working across the research-to-deployment pipeline, from theoretical development through experimental validation.
• Progress with autonomy and intellectual curiosity. You can identify valuable research directions within the broader MARA mission, design experiments, and drive projects to completion.
• Value collaboration and knowledge transfer. You actively share insights across specialization boundaries and help integrate diverse approaches into coherent systems.
• Excited about solving real-world problems through embodied intelligence that advances our ability to understand and interact with the physical world.
Preferred:
• PhD (or equivalent experience) in technical areas including: robotics, machine learning, computer vision, control theory, cognitive science, or physics.
• Experience at leading robotics or AI labs (academic or industry).
• Track record of algorithms deployed on physical robot systems.
• Contributions to major open-source projects in robotics or ML.
• Experience with both theoretical research and systems engineering.
• Background spanning multiple specialization areas.
Company:
Basis is a nonprofit applied research organization with two mutually reinforcing goals. The first is to understand and build intelligence. Founded in 2022, the company is headquartered in New York, USA, with a team of 11-50 employees. The company is currently Early Stage.