Surge AIResearch Scientist
Surge AI is hiring a Research Scientist for a remote role open to applicants in United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Surge AI.
Level's read on this job
- Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this research scientist role: the job is building AI systems.
- The posting lists this role as remote.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include Anthropic, Python and LLMs.
- Level classifies it as a mid-level role.
- Level lists 27 other open roles at Surge AI.
AI in this role
Design datasets, metrics, and evaluation frameworks to shape frontier LLM behavior, safety, and performance.
About Us
Our mission is to raise AGI with the richness of human intelligence — curious, witty, imaginative, and full of unexpected brilliance.
Surge was founded by engineers and researchers who dreamed of building the next generation AI. We're building a platform that powers the most powerful models in the world in partnership with companies like Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and Meta.
At Surge, we believe the path to AGI isn't just about scaling compute—it's about embracing the unlimited ceiling of human intelligence and creativity in the data that shapes these systems. Our platform combines elite human expertise with cutting-edge tools for scalable oversight, from building rich RL environments to conducting rigorous evaluations that go beyond benchmarks. We've run a profitable business from day one without raising venture funding.
The Role
As a Research Scientist focused on data, you’ll work at the cutting edge of LLM development by designing the datasets that shape how frontier models behave. You’ll partner directly with AI research teams to experiment with new data collection strategies, evaluate dataset quality, and uncover insights that improve alignment, safety, and model performance.
This is a research-driven, impact-heavy role: you’ll have the opportunity to test ideas quickly in live production environments, shape data-centric methodologies for some of the world’s top AI labs, and help define how high-quality data fuels the next generation of AI systems.
What We’re Looking for
Deep Curiosity About Data – Obsession with understanding how the structure, quality, and selection of data influence LLM performance
Bias Toward Insight and Iteration – You think critically but move fast, designing lightweight experiments to generate actionable results
Desire to Shape AI Development – Drive to build the foundational data layer that defines how the next generation of AI systems behave
What You'll Do
Research data collection strategies and designing high-impact data slices that uncover model failure modes
Model annotator behavior and designing experiments to optimize instruction clarity and reward signal reliability
Develop metrics and frameworks for evaluating dataset quality, diversity, and impact on downstream model alignment
How we rate this
Research Scientist at Surge AI rates 90 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in research scientist jobs at this level
Pay
- Typical research scientist job
- $192k
This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical research scientist figure when pay comes up. See research scientist jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a research question you investigated. What did you find?
- Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where data science was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where alignment was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where dataset evaluation was part of your work. What did you do?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: AI Research, Machine learning, Data Science, Alignment, and Dataset Evaluation. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.
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