Astera
Research Scientist/Engineer
About this role
Join a research-focused team in Emeryville to advance foundational AGI principles by studying brain-inspired computational models. You'll conduct cutting-edge research on neural architectures, world models, and intelligence mechanisms while collaborating across neuroscience and engineering disciplines.
What you'll do
- Develop neuroscience-inspired architectures and learning algorithms for world models
- Design and execute experiments testing hypotheses about cognition, causality, and sensorimotor integration
- Collaborate with neuroscientists and engineers to scale mathematical frameworks into systems
- Contribute to open science initiatives including publications, code releases, and impact measurement
- Explore deep learning, probabilistic models, and biologically-inspired computational approaches
- Drive research direction with significant autonomy in a fast-paced startup environment
What they're looking for
- Deep learning frameworks (PyTorch/JAX)
- Deep learning and graphical models theory
- Information theory
- Neuroscience knowledge
- Clean, reproducible research code
- Causal reasoning and probabilistic modeling
- Scientific hypothesis design and experimentation
- Cross-disciplinary communication
Benefits
- Freedom from quarterly revenue pressures and product constraints
- Direct focus on fundamental AGI research breakthroughs
- Collaborative, lean team environment without corporate bureaucracy
- High autonomy and influence over research direction
- Contribution to global AI safety and knowledge advancement
- Work on high-impact 'big questions' in artificial intelligence
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Astera
Astera builds advanced infrastructure for large-scale distributed simulations, neuroscience research tools, and knowledge-sharing platforms aimed at accelerating scientific discovery. The company is hiring software engineers, ML researchers, and scientist-engineers to develop high-performance systems, specialized neuroscience instrumentation, and data-efficient machine learning approaches.
View all jobs at AsteraLikely interview questions
- Walk us through a recent research project where you implemented brain-inspired principles or biologically-motivated architectures. What specific insights from neuroscience guided your approach?
- Describe your experience with deep learning frameworks like PyTorch or JAX. How do you ensure your research code is clean, reproducible, and ready for open-source release?