--- title: 'Research Partner at FirstPrinciples' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/research-partner-firstprinciples-ontario-n446qf5re113' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-11' --- # Research Partner at FirstPrinciples - **Company:** FirstPrinciples - **Location:** Ontario, Canada - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-05-04 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/firstprinciples/9023ad68-cc07-4249-8ac4-4484f7a5c759 ## Job description ## About FirstPrinciples FirstPrinciples is building AI to accelerate scientific discovery. Our core product is the Theo Platform, a research environment built to help researchers iterate faster, validate rigorously, and reach verified results they can trust. We're a fast-growing, remote-first team of builders, researchers, engineers, and thinkers working across Canada, the US, the UK, and expanding globally. What brings us together is a shared curiosity about how the universe works, and a belief that we can build systems that help us explore it more effectively. We spend our time working on questions that don't have clear answers, like how to design AI that can reason through scientific problems, and how the scientific process as a whole might evolve. This is work that sits somewhere between creativity and rigorous thinking, and often requires comfort with ambiguity and iteration. If you're someone who enjoys tackling big, abstract problems and exploring ideas that don't yet have a defined path forward, you'll likely find the work here interesting. Why This Role Exists: We’re building products to accelerate progress in physics - but that only matters if researchers can actually use them effectively. Besides building the technology, the challenge is activating and supporting our users to adopt it, get value quickly, and continue using it over time. This role exists to bridge that gap. You’ll work across the full user lifecycle: from first interaction to meaningful usage. You’ll help users go from curiosity, to first successful result, to long-term adoption. Your impact will directly shape how physicists engage with the platform, and ultimately, how much scientific progress we’re able to unlock. What You’ll Do: - Work directly with physicists to help them run experiments, interpret results, and unlock value quickly - Own the end-to-end user lifecycle: from discovery and activation, to onboarding and long-term retention - Design and improve onboarding flows, workflows, and user journeys that scale across thousands of users - Build lightweight systems (guides, tooling, automations) to help users graduate from freemium to higher-tier usage - Identify friction points in the user experience and translate them into product or workflow improvements - Partner closely with research and engineering to align the system with real user needs - Act as a technical point of contact for users, someone who can go deep when needed. Who You Are: - Strong background in physics (PhD or equivalent depth of experience preferred) - Comfort and familiarity working hands-on with technical systems, experiments, or computational tools - Able to translate complex concepts into clear guidance for users - Passionate about research and experimentation - Experience supporting users, customers, or researchers at scale (eg. CSM, developer relations, research support, etc.) - Highly systems-oriented; you think in terms of workflows, repeatability, and scale - Comfortable with ambiguity and early-stage environments where you define the playbook - Motivated by impact, you care about helping others get real value from complex systems What You’ll Get: - The opportunity to work on foundational problems at the intersection of AI and physics - A high-trust, low-bureaucracy environment with real ownership - Remote-first work with flexibility in how you structure your day - Exposure to cutting-edge ideas across AI, scientific discovery, and emerging technologies - A culture that values curiosity, depth of thinking, and first-principles reasoning - The chance to contribute to work aimed at advancing fundamental science ## About FirstPrinciples ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: FirstPrinciples is a non-profit, AI-first research organization building an autonomous AI Physicist to accelerate fundamental physics discovery and advance humanity’s understanding of nature. - **Entity Type**: Private (Non-profit) – funded by philanthropic grants (e.g., John Templeton Foundation) - **Headquarters**: Toronto, Canada - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Ildar Shar ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Research Services / AI / Fundamental Physics - **Target customers**: The scientific community and research institutions (B2 science); operates as a mission-driven open-science platform, not a commercial vendor. - **Mission**: To unlock the transformative potential of fundamental science by building an open, autonomous research engine (the AI Physicist) that can generate and test novel theoretical frameworks – with a goal of unifying quantum field theory and general relativity by 2035. ## Products & Services - **Theo (AI Physicist)**: An open-source, autonomous research engine that combines AI, symbolic reasoning, and self-directed research capabilities to explore theoretical physics and produce novel insights. - **FirstPrinciples Fellowship Program**: A fixed-term, fully remote program for PhD/postdoctoral researchers in ML and physics to build core modules of the AI Physicist and help establish open scientific infrastructure. - **Theo Collaborators Program**: A selective research collaboration that brings expert physicists into direct engagement with Theo to evaluate and improve its scientific reasoning. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Funding**: Not applicable (non‑profit). Received a philanthropic grant from the **John Templeton Foundation** – early institutional support for the AI Physicist. - **Key Metric**: 27 employees (as of mid‑2026), with **140% year‑over-year headcount growth**; 7,042 LinkedIn followers. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: John Templeton Foundation; Scientific Advisory Board includes **Victor Galitski** (inaugural member) and **Yang-Hui He** (mathematical physicist). - **Growth Signals**: Rapid team expansion (140% YoY), launch of Fellowship Program (January 2026), fully remote global operations with presence in Canada, US, and Belgium. ## Competitive Advantages - **Mission‑driven, non‑profit, open‑source** model attracts top AI and physics talent who want impact over profit. - **Long‑term vision** (2035 breakthrough) combined with startup‑like speed and iteration. - **Unique interdisciplinary approach** – merges cutting‑edge AI with rigorous theoretical physics, guided by a world‑class Scientific Advisory Board. - **Autonomous research loops** that go beyond data analysis to actively generate and test new scientific ideas. ## Strategic Focus - Building and scaling the AI Physicist to achieve a breakthrough in fundamental physics (unification of QFT & GR). - Expanding the research community through fellowships and collaborative programs (Theo Collaborators). - Developing open scientific infrastructure and establishing new standards for AI‑driven discovery. - Deepening collaborations with leading physicists and institutions. ## Why Work Here - **Remote‑first culture** – a global collective where engineers, physicists, and AI researchers collaborate asynchronously. - **Startup energy with non‑profit purpose** – fast iteration, low hierarchy, and direct impact on science. - **Flexible work** – primarily remote; some hybrid options in Toronto. - **Notable perks** (from careers page): fully remote positions available, entrepreneurial environment, and the chance to work on one of the most ambitious AI‑science projects today. - **Roles available** (as of mid‑2026): MTS in DevOps/Infrastructure, Engineering, Research; Staff Physicist (Quantum Information); Training Engineer (Large Scale Foundation Models); Human‑AI Interaction Designer; Strategic Partnerships Manager; etc. ## Sources 1. [greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/firstprinciples) 2. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/firstprinciples-foundation) 3. [linkedin.com](https://ca.linkedin.com/company/firstprinciplesfoundation) 4. [firstprinciples.org – Press](https://www.firstprinciples.org/press) 5. [firstprinciples.org – Fellowship announcement](https://www.firstprinciples.org/article/firstprinciples-launches-fellowship-program-for-researchers-in-ai-and-physics) ## Other roles at FirstPrinciples - [Member of Product Staff](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-product-staff-firstprinciples-ontario-hrcj4668abr0) — Ontario, Canada - [Program Manager, Research](https://feeny.ai/job/program-manager-research-firstprinciples-ontario-r0e90jaq8nxf) — Ontario, Canada - [Growth Marketing Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/growth-marketing-manager-firstprinciples-ontario-7vhj6gmza83t) — Ontario, Canada - [Head of GTM](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-gtm-firstprinciples-ontario-j3m84whrjckh) — Ontario, Canada - [Staff Product Security Engineer - AI Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-product-security-engineer-ai-systems-firstprinciples-ontario-nkzr5rdesj2s) — Ontario, Canada - [Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-firstprinciples-ontario-7xs56m934qyn) — Ontario, Canada - [Founding Account Executive](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-account-executive-firstprinciples-ontario-s8px3zhh5165) — Ontario, Canada - [Senior Research Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-research-manager-firstprinciples-ontario-ngcp734mknys) — Ontario, Canada - [Senior Engineering Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-engineering-manager-firstprinciples-ontario-erk9crg6085t) — Ontario, Canada - [Member of Technical Staff, Research](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-research-firstprinciples-ontario-sn46be6n80ad) — Ontario, Canada