---
title: 'FirstPrinciples Research Fellow at FirstPrinciples'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/firstprinciples-research-fellow-firstprinciples-remote-6vf8fejc768d'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-12'
---

# FirstPrinciples Research Fellow at FirstPrinciples

- **Company:** FirstPrinciples
- **Location:** Remote
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-01-14
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-12
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/firstprinciples/jobs/5071224008

## Job description

https://boards.greenhouse.io/firstprinciples

Overview:

FirstPrinciples is a non-profit organization building an autonomous AI Physicist to understand the nature of reality: the underlying structure, governing principles, and fundamental laws of our universe. We're developing an intelligent system that can explore theoretical frameworks, reason across disciplines, and generate novel insights to tackle the deepest unsolved problems in physics. By combining AI, symbolic reasoning, and autonomous research capabilities, we're developing a platform that goes beyond analyzing existing knowledge to actively contribute to physics research. Our goal is to accelerate progress on the questions that have captivated humanity for centuries.

We operate as a global nonprofit organization, with a Canadian foundation, a US-based 501(c)(3).

As part of this effort, we are launching a Research Fellowship Program for advanced AI and physics researchers. Fellows will work directly with the FirstPrinciples Research and Engineering teams to design, test, and implement state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods and applications that will be integrated into the core AI Physicist system. This is not a paper-only fellowship and your work will go straight into production, helping shape how scientific research is performed.

## What You will Do

As a Research Fellow, you will own a well-scoped research direction that contributes directly to the AI Physicist's ability to reason about physics.

Core Objectives:

- Improve Theo’s ability to produce scientifically sound, high-quality outputs in 2026;
- Introduce new ideas, methods, and approaches that meaningfully shift system performance;
- Bring deep domain expertise (PhD+ level) in one or more targeted research areas.

Research Areas & Responsibilities

Fundamental Model Research:

- Research, design, and test novel model architectures that combine academic literature, NLP, symbolic reasoning, and structured scientific workflows.
- Prototype and build embedding representations for physical concepts, mathematical objects, and logical structures, enabling models to reason over equations, abstractions, and scientific constraints rather than surface text alone.
- Investigate alternatives to transformer-based architectures and deliver concrete recommendations.
- Design and run targeted experiments to evaluate new architectural ideas, using empirical results to guide the development of next-generation model architectures.
- Develop reinforcement learning loops that enable models to run internal and independent thought experiment.

Multimodal Data & Benchmarking:

- Design and automate scalable data ingestion pipelines that aggregate scientific literature, metadata, equations, and experimental data.
- Create custom benchmarks to measure physical understanding, mathematical reasoning, and failure modes in scientific reasoning and abstraction.
- Refine and release curated datasets and baselines once internal validation is complete.

Training, Testing & Safety:

- Run and track model training jobs while managing compute usage and budget constraints.
- Design sandbox environments for controlled autonomous exploration.
- Build evaluation frameworks using visual and statistical tools to identify strengths and blind spots.
- Implement tests and guardrails that flag low-quality or unsafe outputs.
- Maintain internal issue tracking with clear failure modes and fixes.

Collaboration & Technical Guidance:

- Work closely with engineers to ensure research is feasible and production-ready.
- Communicate technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
- Present regular research updates tied to defined milestones.

Who This Fellowship Is For We are looking for researchers who:

- Can operate independently and own a problem end-to-end.
- Are motivated by ambitious, long-horizon goals.
- Have strong builder instincts, not just theory.
- Value rigor, clarity, and intellectual honesty.
- Are comfortable engaging with exploratory, incomplete results.

Typical profiles include:

- PhD or postdoctoral researchers in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Theoretical Physics, or a closely related field.
- Track record of research in either:
- model architectures, representation learning, or reasoning systems (CS/ML path); or
- mathematical, physical, or formal reasoning applied to fundamental problems (physics path).
- Demonstrated ability to translate abstract theory into testable computational systems.
- Comfortable working across disciplinary boundaries.

Program Structure

- 6-12 month engagement with full-time or equivalent commitment
- Fully remote
- Fellows participate in projects and are expected to produce outputs (code, models, and other deliverables)
- Fixed stipend for the full term

How to Express Interest: If this resonates, we welcome an expression of interest, including:

- Resume;
- Description of your research background;
- Primary areas of expertise; and
- Relevant recent work.

Join us at FirstPrinciples and be a part of a transformative journey where science drives progress and unlocks the potential of humanity.

## About FirstPrinciples

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: FirstPrinciples is a non-profit research organization building an autonomous AI Physicist to advance humanity’s understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.
- **Entity Type**: Private (non-profit)
- **Headquarters**: Toronto, Canada
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Ildar Shar

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Research Services / AI Research
- **Target customers**: Researchers, physicists, AI/ML engineers, and the broader scientific community (B2B and B2C oriented toward academia and research institutions)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: To understand the nature of reality – the underlying structure, governing principles, and fundamental laws of the universe – by building an open, autonomous AI system that accelerates scientific discovery.

## Products & Services
- **AI Physicist**: An open-source, autonomous research engine that combines AI, symbolic reasoning, and autonomous research capabilities to explore theoretical frameworks, generate novel insights, and actively contribute to physics research. (Platform / Research Engine)
- **FirstPrinciples Fellowship Program**: A fixed-term (6–12 month), fully remote fellowship for PhD and postdoctoral researchers in AI and physics. Fellows work directly with the team to build core modules of the AI Physicist, with deliverables going into production. (Program / Fellowship)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not applicable (non-profit)
- **Key Metric**: Headcount – 27 employees (as of mid-2026), with 140% year-over-year growth and 12.5% monthly growth
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Launched the FirstPrinciples Fellowship Program in January 2026
  - Active job postings for 8+ roles (engineers, researchers, partnerships)
  - Remote-first global collective with presence in Canada, United States, and Belgium

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI-first, mission-driven approach**: Unlike traditional research labs, FirstPrinciples operates like a tech startup – moving quickly, iterating continuously, and shipping production code.
- **Open-source, autonomous research engine**: The AI Physicist is designed to be open and collaborative, integrating contributions from the global scientific community.
- **Cross-disciplinary rigor**: Combines deep physics expertise with advanced AI, symbolic reasoning, and software engineering, enabling novel approaches to fundamental problems.
- **Non-profit structure**: Focus on scientific impact rather than commercial returns, attracting talent driven by long-horizon, ambitious goals.

## Strategic Focus
- Achieving a breakthrough that unifies quantum field theory and general relativity by 2035
- Improving the AI Physicist’s ability to produce scientifically sound, high-quality outputs in 2026
- Building new model architectures, multimodal data pipelines, and evaluation benchmarks for scientific reasoning
- Expanding the research community through the Fellowship Program and open infrastructure

## Why Work Here
- **Remote-first culture**: Fully remote, global collective – work from anywhere (roles listed as “Anywhere – Remote” or “Canada – Remote”)
- **Mission-driven impact**: Contribute to one of the most ambitious scientific goals of our time, with work that goes directly into production
- **Startup energy, non-profit purpose**: Fast-paced iteration, flat structure, and a builder mindset – “not a paper-only fellowship”
- **Talent pool**: Team includes alumni from top institutions (Vector Institute, Amazon, IBM, etc.) and a strong emphasis on research and technical excellence
- **Culture highlights**: Intellectual honesty, exploratory work, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and a focus on long-horizon problems

## Sources
1. [Greenhouse Job Board](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/firstprinciples)
2. [Built In – FirstPrinciples Foundation Careers](https://builtin.com/company/firstprinciples-foundation)
3. [LinkedIn – FirstPrinciples Company Page](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/firstprinciplesfoundation)
4. [FirstPrinciples.org – Fellowship Announcement](https://www.firstprinciples.org/article/firstprinciples-launches-fellowship-program-for-researchers-in-ai-and-physics)

## Other roles at FirstPrinciples

- [Strategic Partnerships Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/strategic-partnerships-manager-firstprinciples-canada-hcm1ptyz57fh) — Canada
- [Physicist, Theo Collaborators Program, Quantum Information](https://feeny.ai/job/physicist-theo-collaborators-program-quantum-information-firstprinciples-remote-pktvkh4h5wfn)
- [Member of Technical Staff, Staff Physicist, Quantum Information and AI](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-staff-physicist-quantum-information-and-ai-dhffbj3y57s4)
- [Member of Technical Staff, Research](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-research-firstprinciples-remote-h6ybxy10cam8)
- [Member of Technical Staff, Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-engineering-firstprinciples-canada-95tmddsywcrx) — Canada