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Particle Physicist Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Our founding team has built and deployed AI against the physical world in robotics, drug discovery, and particle physics at institutions like DeepMind, Waymo, Cruise, Insitro, Nabla Bio, and CERN. We ...

Our founding team has built and deployed AI against the physical world in robotics, drug discovery, and particle physics at institutions like DeepMind, Waymo, Cruise, Insitro, Nabla Bio, and CERN. We ...

Radiation Physics Support Duration: 2026-10-01 to 2027-09-30 Rate :$95/hr on W2 Job Summary Job ... Experience with particle accelerators, synchrotrons, beamlines, or research facilities.

Showing results 21-40

Particle Physicist information

See California salary details

$39K

$93.6K

$223.5K

How much do particle physicist jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 21, 2026, the average yearly pay for particle physicist in California is $93,563.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $58,200.00 and $110,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Particle Physicist vs Nuclear Physicist?

AspectParticle PhysicistNuclear Physicist
Required credentialsPhysics degree, PhD often preferredPhysics or nuclear engineering degree, PhD often preferred
Work environmentResearch labs, universities, large collidersNuclear facilities, research reactors, laboratories
Industry usageHigh-energy physics, fundamental particlesNuclear energy, radiation, nuclear safety

Particle Physicists focus on understanding fundamental particles and forces at high-energy colliders, often working in large research facilities. Nuclear Physicists study atomic nuclei, nuclear reactions, and applications in energy and medicine. While both roles require advanced physics knowledge and similar credentials, their work environments and research focus differ significantly.

Is particle physics a good career?

Particle physics is a specialized field within physics that involves research at universities, laboratories, and research institutions, often requiring advanced degrees such as a Ph.D. It offers opportunities for research, data analysis, and collaboration but can be highly competitive and may involve irregular hours and funding challenges. Overall, it can be a rewarding career for those passionate about fundamental science and discovery.

What does a particle physicist do?

A particle physicist studies the fundamental particles and forces that make up matter and the universe. They conduct experiments using large particle accelerators, analyze data, and develop theories to understand subatomic phenomena. This role often requires strong skills in physics, mathematics, and programming, and may involve working in research laboratories or academic settings.

What jobs can you get with a particle physicist degree?

Particle physicists can pursue careers in research and development, data analysis, and scientific consulting in academia, government laboratories, and private industry. They often work as research scientists, data analysts, or technical consultants, utilizing skills in programming, statistical analysis, and complex problem-solving. Many also transition into roles in engineering, software development, or science communication.

What cities in California are hiring for Particle Physicist jobs?

Cities in California with the most Particle Physicist job openings:

Infographic showing various Particle Physicist job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 80% Full Time, 18% Part Time, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 80% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 19% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $93,563 per year, or $45 per hour.

Member of Technical Staff - Inference Infrastructure

Causal Labs

San Francisco, CA โ€ข On-site

Full-time

Re-posted 2 days ago


Job description

Our mission is general causal intelligence; AI that is capable of (1) predicting the future and (2) identifying the actions to alter it.
To achieve this breakthrough, we are building a Large Physics foundation Model (LPM) because physical systems, unlike text or images, are governed by verifiable cause and effect. We believe that scaling on physics will enable an understanding of causality required to predict and control physical systems, starting with weather.
Our founding team has built and deployed AI against the physical world in robotics, drug discovery, and particle physics at institutions like DeepMind, Waymo, Cruise, Insitro, Nabla Bio, and CERN.
We look for infrastructure engineers who are excited to tackle unsolved problems. Progress on an LPM is gated by how fast we can evaluate it: large-scale backtesting against decades of physical observations, ensemble generation, and rollout evaluation across model scales.
Responsibilities
Your mission is to make inference so fast and cheap that evaluation never gates research.
  • Build high-throughput inference systems for large-scale evaluation, backtesting, and scoring against historical physical observations
  • Design and implement techniques that improve latency, throughput, and efficiency for real-time inference
  • Optimize the inference stack to fully utilize hardware FLOPs, bandwidth, and memory
  • Extend orchestration frameworks (e.g. Kubernetes, Ray, Slurm) for distributed inference and large-batch evaluation sweeps
  • Establish standards for reliability, observability, and reproducibility across the inference stack, so every evaluation is trustworthy and repeatable
  • Collaborate with researchers to enable high-performance inference for novel architectures as they emerge

What we're looking for
We value a relentless approach to problem-solving, rapid execution, and the ability to quickly learn in unfamiliar domains.
  • Experience building or optimizing inference and serving systems for throughput and latency (e.g. TensorRT)
  • Understanding of distributed compute, GPU parallelism, and hardware-aware optimization
  • Deep familiarity with deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, JAX) and their underlying system architectures
  • Strong engineering skills: performant, maintainable code and the ability to debug complex codebases
  • Bonus: contributions to open-source inference or systems infrastructure (e.g. vLLM, SGLang, Triton)