Research Scientist, Compilers and Programming Languages

About the role

Basis is a nonprofit applied AI research organization with two goals: to understand and build intelligence, and to advance society’s ability to solve intractable problems. Research scientists contribute to both by advancing the technological foundation and the collaborative organization.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain programming languages tools for Basis' core reasoning technology.
• Develop and explore computational theories of intelligence, including reasoning, learning, and decision-making.
• Collaborate with domain experts on Basis scientific and societal challenge problems.
• Publish and present findings in journals and conferences (optional).
• Contribute to the culture and direction of Basis.

Requirements

• PhD (or equivalent experience) in a relevant area.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct first-class scientific research, published in venues such as PLDI, OOPSLA, and POPL, or in technical reports.
• Demonstrated ability to write excellent software.
• Excited about solving real-world problems and having a positive societal impact.
• Demonstrated significant technical achievements within PL research and engineering.

Qualifications

• Exceptional technical depth—solid mathematical and computational foundations.
• A builder's mindset—ability to design, construct, and refine complex systems from foundational principles.
• Scientific rigor—rigorous, high-quality, robust science, without fear of tinkering, making mistakes, and exploring radically different ideas in order to get there.

Skills

• Programming Languages Design, Implementation, and Analysis.
• Compiler Design, Partial Evaluation, Program Analysis, Abstract Interpretation, and Program Transformation.
• Probabilistic Programming, Automatic Differentiation, and SAT/SMT Solvers.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and bonuses.
• This is a full-time position.
• While we prioritize in-person collaboration for its benefits to creative work, there is a degree of flexibility in your working hours.
• You are expected to attend multi-day Basis-wide in-person events.
• The role is in-person in either New York City or Cambridge, MA.

Pay

Salary range: $120K - $180K

Schedule

While we prioritize in-person collaboration for its benefits to creative work, there is a degree of flexibility in your working hours.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and bonuses.
• This is a full-time position.
• While we prioritize in-person collaboration for its benefits to creative work, there is a degree of flexibility in your working hours.
• You are expected to attend multi-day Basis-wide in-person events.
• The role is in-person in either New York City or Cambridge, MA.