---
title: 'VP, Research at Odyssey'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/vp-research-odyssey-london-dsxjptdqvpfn'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-15'
---

# VP, Research at Odyssey

- **Company:** Odyssey
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-07-17
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-15
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/odysseyml/54bd2c68-8040-4e6f-a753-2935a7c184a9

## Job description

## Who we are

[Odyssey](https://odyssey.ml) is an AI lab pioneering general world models: causal, multimodal systems that learn to predict and interact with the world over long horizons. This foundational technology promises to revolutionize robotics, science, healthcare, education, gaming, defense, and beyond. Odyssey’s founders previously pioneered the most complex application of physical AI: self-driving cars. They’ve now brought together a world-class research team from DeepMind, Tesla, Waymo, Meta, Apple, and Wayve, who have made significant contributions to language models (DeepMind Gemini), video models (DeepMind Veo), world models (Wayve GAIA), and autonomous systems (Tesla FSD). Odyssey has raised significant venture capital from GV, Amazon, AMD, EQT, NVIDIA, Natural Capital, In-Q-Tel, Elad Gil, Jeff Dean, Guillermo Rauch, Garry Tan, Kyle Vogt, and researchers from OpenAI, DeepMind, MSL, Recursive, and Thinking Machines.

## What we're looking for

Odyssey is hiring a VP of Research to lead and grow our Frontier Research group, the researchers working at the cutting edge of world model capability, responsible for the first proof points of new algorithms and for pushing the frontier of what world models can do. This is a role for someone who wants to both set the research agenda and stay close enough to shape it directly, not manage from a distance.You'll report directly to Jeff Hawke, our Co-Founder and CTO, and work alongside Odyssey’s leaders.

## What you'll do

- Leading and growing the Frontier Research group, hiring, mentoring, and developing researchers at every level.
- Owning and driving Odyssey's research agenda across world simulation, multimodality, robotics, and multi-agent learning.
- Defining and communicating a research vision ambitious enough to position Odyssey as the leading voice in world models, one that attracts top talent to the field and to us specifically.
- Setting the research roadmap and publication strategy, and representing Odyssey's research externally to the broader community.
- Collaboration across disciplines with other VP-level leaders, driving forward Odyssey’s holistic top-level strategy.

## Who you are

- 10+ years of research experience with a strong publication record at top ML venues (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, CVPR, and similar).
- Deep technical expertise in at least one of generative video models, world models, multimodal learning, reinforcement learning, or robotics.
- A track record of leading and growing research teams, including mentoring researchers at all levels, not just senior hires.
- Demonstrated ability to set a research vision that shapes a field and pulls talent toward it.
- Comfortable in a fast-paced, high-ambiguity environment; startup experience preferred.
- Equally comfortable partnering with Foundation Models, ML Platform, and Applied AI as with your own researchers.
- Willing to be in the office 3+ days a week, ideally full-time, based in London.
- Genuinely motivated by Odyssey's mission to discover the GPT-3 moment for world models, not just intellectually curious about it.

Our staff is expected to be in office at least three times a week. A lot of our progress comes from working through problems together, and we want you in the room for that.

## About Odyssey

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Odyssey is an AI lab pioneering general-purpose world models—causal, interactive, real-time simulations that learn from video and multimodal data to enable new forms of intelligence.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B, raised $310M)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States (also offices in London, England and Zurich, Switzerland) [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/odyssey-odysseyml)
- **Founded**: 2023 [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/odyssey-odysseyml)
- **Founders**: Oliver Cameron (Co-Founder & CEO), Jeff Hawke (Co-Founder & CTO) [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Artificial intelligence, machine learning, world modeling, robotics, simulation.
- **Target customers**: B2B (developers, enterprises in robotics, gaming, healthcare, advertising, retail, defense) and B2C (future consumer applications like interactive entertainment, personal assistants, immersive fitness).
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "We learn the world to make it better." [odyssey.ml/about](https://odyssey.ml/about)

## Products & Services
- **[Odyssey-2](https://odyssey.ml/)**: A general-purpose world model that generates minutes-long, interactive, real-time simulations from text or image prompts. It streams frame-by-frame and can be interacted with by multiple participants (human or AI). Designed for applications in robotics rehearsal, gaming, interactive advertising, virtual try-ons, and more.
- **[Agora-1](https://odyssey.ml/about)**: A multi-agent world model enabling multiple participants—human or AI—to share and interact within the same world simulation in real-time. Built on a novel RL-driven adversarial framework to improve world model performance.
- **[Starchild-1](https://odyssey.ml/about)**: The first real-time multimodal world model, going beyond visual observation to learn from richer multimodal interaction with the world.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: $310M Series B funding (latest round) [odyssey.ml/about](https://odyssey.ml/about)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Backed by Jeff Dean (Chief Scientist, DeepMind), Soumith Chintala (CTO, Thinking Machines), Max Jaderberg (President, Isomorphic Labs) [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers); also advised/invested by Tim Rocktäschel (Co-Founder, Recursive) [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers)
- **Growth Signals**: Rapid hiring (16+ open roles across research, engineering, product, policy, HR, and operations) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/odysseyml); launched breakthrough world models (Odyssey-2, Agora-1, Starchild-1); offices in 3 global tech hubs; employee headcount growing ~33% year-over-year (approx. 37–46 employees) [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/odysseyml) [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/odyssey-odysseyml)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Pioneering approach**: Odyssey is one of the first labs to focus exclusively on general-purpose world models, shifting beyond language models to simulate physics, causality, and intelligence.
- **Top-tier talent**: Team recruited from leading AI labs (DeepMind, Meta, Waymo, Cruise, Wayve) and companies like Apple and Roblox [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/odysseyml).
- **Compute & infrastructure**: Building inference infrastructure capable of scaling to hundreds of thousands of users within a year while minimizing TFLOPS per user [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers).
- **Research output**: Publicly released state-of-the-art models (Odyssey-2, Agora-1, Starchild-1) that materially advance physical accuracy and interactivity in world models [odyssey.ml](https://odyssey.ml/).

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scaling world model inference for real-time, interactive consumer and enterprise products; pushing research boundaries in multimodal learning, reinforcement learning, and multi-agent simulation; building the "financial engine" for a compute-intensive AI business (capital allocation, unit economics) [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers).
- **Direction for growth**: Applying world models to robotics (sim-to-real rehearsal), gaming, healthcare, advertising, retail, defense, education, and personal assistant systems. Aiming to "proliferate interactive intelligence into the world" [odyssey.ml](https://odyssey.ml/).

## Why Work Here
- **Culture and autonomy**: Odyssey prizes "autonomy and ownership" – deep work with accountability, and the freedom to tackle meaningful, open-ended scientific problems [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers).
- **Team**: Collaborate with researchers and engineers from leading labs who have driven major AI advancements. Strong peer group focused on original science [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers).
- **Work policy**: Hybrid model – employees work from physical offices in Palo Alto, London, or Zurich. No remote-only option; typical time on-site not specified [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/odyssey-odysseyml).
- **Compensation & benefits**: Competitive salary and equity grants reflecting the demands of breakthrough AI research. Benefits include healthcare, disability insurance, 401(k), generous parental leave, PTO, company socials, and wellness initiatives [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/odyssey-odysseyml).
- **Notable for job seekers**: Rapidly scaling (raised $310M, hiring across research, engineering, product, and operations). Opportunity to shape a nascent category (world models) from the ground up.

## Sources
1. [odyssey.ml/careers](https://odyssey.ml/careers) – Careers page with team, culture, and benefits details.
2. [odyssey.ml/about](https://odyssey.ml/about) – About page with mission, funding, and model announcements.
3. [odyssey.ml](https://odyssey.ml/) – Homepage with product descriptions and applications.
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/odyssey-odysseyml) – Built In company profile with employee count, perks, and office locations.
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/odysseyml) – LinkedIn company page with headcount, growth, and talent sources.

## Other roles at Odyssey

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- [Controller](https://feeny.ai/job/controller-odyssey-palo-alto-vvwn3yc51kn7) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Member of Technical Staff, Infrastructure Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-infrastructure-engineer-odyssey-palo-alto-78e1qwcgzrya) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Research Internship](https://feeny.ai/job/research-internship-odyssey-palo-alto-v0rv7s8cfzfd) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Executive Business Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-business-partner-odyssey-london-dgfbmxp8z5zn) — London, United Kingdom
- [Member of Technical Staff, Data Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-data-engineering-odyssey-palo-alto-n16zsqmcv70j) — Palo Alto, CA
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- [Member of Technical Staff, Foundation Models](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-foundation-models-odyssey-palo-alto-0h5g5ayn20dg) — Palo Alto, CA
- [VP, Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/vp-engineering-odyssey-palo-alto-tka73j1qbv60) — Palo Alto, CA
- [Member of Technical Staff, TLM: Research Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-tlm-research-scientist-odyssey-palo-alto-8d6e4yxm6gc9) — Palo Alto, CA