We've budgeted roughly $1M per quarter for compute and human data, across a team of fewer than ten, to ensure that we can commit to ambitious goals in all of these areas. You'll scope ambiguous problems independently, communicate progress clearly, and synthesize findings into papers, blog posts, and benchmark releases.

Staff hires may also lead research and mentorship programs through paid fellowships or volunteer research focused on evaluation or methods work.

If our work and mission resonate with you, please consider applying even if you don’t tick every box. We strongly believe in investing in excellent people regardless of prior or formal experience.

You may be a good fit if you have

• A Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field or equivalent experience.
• Proficiency coding in Python or similar languages, as well as machine learning and analysis tooling (e.g., JAX, PyTorch, Pandas).
• Experience working with large language models, human-in-the-loop data annotation systems, or AI evaluation frameworks.
• A willingness to embrace AI tools intelligently, applying scrutiny and human review where necessary.
• A track record of exploring and resolving open-ended research questions with rigor, in academic or industry labs, fellowships, or volunteer research programs.

Outstanding candidates will have

• Demonstrated ownership across multiple parts of the AI research lifecycle (experiment design and execution, infrastructure, data collection and processing, inference).
• Expertise in a highly relevant domain such as model confidence/calibration, interpretability, safety/alignment evaluation, human-computer interaction, or other fields related to scalable oversight.
• Hands-on experience with post-training methods such as reinforcement learning, adversarial fine-tuning, or distillation, especially applied to judges or reward models.
• Leadership as a mentor or team lead for related research, either inside a research lab or via programs like SPAR, MARS, or MATS.

Salary and Logistics

• Junior hires: £100,000-£150,000 (~$136,000-$205,000)
• Senior hires: £150,000-£200,000 (~$205,000-$273,000)
• Staff hires: £200,000-£290,000 (~$273,000-$395,000)

Approximate USD conversion as of 24 August 2026.

Exceptional students/new-grads and early-career individuals will often come in at the junior level. Researchers or engineers with several relevant years of experience will often come in at the senior level. Staff hires typically bring deep expertise in a directly relevant area at notable research labs, and have led research programs or teams. We'll agree a target level with you early in the process, and may reassess as you progress.

Location

This role is based on-site in London.

Visa Sponsorship

We offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Start Dates

We are hiring ~2 FTEs targeting a late-September 2026 start, and ~2 more starting January 2027. We will continue hiring more FTEs later in 2027. We will review applications on a rolling basis, so please apply ASAP.

Equal Opportunity

Sampura Research is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team with diverse backgrounds and perspectives and believe this makes our research and workplace better. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or any other protected characteristic. If you need adjustments at any stage of the application process, let us know and we'll make them.