Staff Physicist, Quantum Information and AI

About FirstPrinciples

FirstPrinciples is a non-profit organization dedicated to building an autonomous AI Physicist aimed at understanding the fundamental nature of reality, its underlying structure, governing principles, and fundamental laws. We are developing an intelligent system capable of exploring theoretical frameworks, reasoning across disciplines, and generating novel insights to tackle the deepest unsolved problems in physics. By integrating AI, symbolic reasoning, and autonomous research capabilities, we are building a platform that not only analyzes existing knowledge but actively contributes to physics research, accelerating progress on centuries-old questions. We operate as a global nonprofit with a Canadian foundation and a US-based 501(c)(3).

The Opportunity: Staff Physicist, Quantum Information and AI

We are seeking a Staff Physicist, Quantum Information and AI to contribute to the creation of an AI Physicist at the forefront of Quantum Information and AI. Your expertise in quantum information theory will be crucial for training, evaluating, and setting the research direction for a rapidly evolving scientific system. This research-focused role at the intersection of AI and physics involves inventing new benchmarks, metrics, and evaluation methodologies to define high-quality research in Quantum Information with AI integration. You will collaborate closely with research and engineering teams, with your contributions directly impacting production model improvements and publishable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Scientific Critique and Research Guidance: Review and meticulously critique model reasoning in quantum information and related theories (e.g., quantum error correction, cryptography, algorithms). Identify subtle conceptual errors, missing assumptions, invalid proof steps, and "sounds right" failures. Provide clear corrections, alternative derivations, and minimal counterexamples to educate the system on good physics practices. Translate domain expertise into actionable research recommendations for model behavior, reasoning style, and tool usage. Create gold-standard demonstrations and reference solutions for training and fine-tuning. Offer structured preferences and rankings for model outputs to enhance scientific reasoning quality through expert feedback loops.
• Collaborators Program and Cross-Functional Coordination: Help build the Collaborators program, an external group of expert peers who act as reviewers. Coordinate review cycles and integrate collaborator feedback into training priorities, benchmark design, and evaluation criteria. Align external reviewer standards with internal research goals and engineering constraints, ensuring rapid iteration while maintaining scientific defensibility. Clearly communicate progress and open questions across collaborators, research, and engineering teams.
• Research Output and Publication: Drive the system to produce outputs worthy of co-authorship. Contribute to open-science artifacts where appropriate, including benchmarks, datasets, technical reports, and preprints.

Qualifications

To be successful in this role, you should possess:

• Educational Background: A PhD in Physics, Quantum Information, Theoretical CS, or a closely related field, coupled with postdoctoral-level research maturity.
• Experience: Demonstrated ability to conduct research-grade reasoning in quantum information and to rigorously critique proofs, derivations, and scientific arguments. Experience contributing to evaluation methodology, benchmarking, or systematic error analysis in research settings is highly valued.
• Technical Skills: Deep fluency in core quantum information topics, including Quantum algorithms, gate quantum computers, annealing quantum computers, quantum error correction, foundations of quantum physics, quantum information theory, and quantum field theory. Strong mathematical foundations in linear algebra, probability, optimization, information-theoretic reasoning, differential equations, group theory, Lie Algebras, Hamiltonian, and Lagrangian dynamics. Proficiency in scientific programming with Python and standard research tools like Git and LaTeX. Working familiarity with modern ML training workflows and the operationalization of expert feedback for model improvement.
• Collaboration & Communication: Comfort working effectively with engineers and researchers in a dynamic, cross-functional environment. Strong written communication skills, particularly for precise critiques, crisp guidance, and implementable benchmark specifications. Ability to coordinate external reviewers and internal teams towards a unified standard of scientific quality.
• Mindset: An entrepreneurial and mission-driven approach, comfort in a fast-growing, startup-style environment, and motivation by the ambition of tackling one of history's greatest scientific challenges.

Bonus Skills

• Experience at the intersection of quantum and machine learning.
• Familiarity with preference modeling, reward modeling, or building evaluation datasets for frontier models.
• Comfort with PyTorch and JAX or similar, and quantum tooling such as Qiskit, PennyLane, or Cirq.
• Publication record in high-impact physics journals.

Application Process

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume, a cover letter detailing their qualifications and vision for the role, and references. Please include "Staff Physicist, Quantum Information and AI" in your cover letter. Join FirstPrinciples and be a part of a transformative journey where science drives progress and unlocks humanity's potential.

Key skills/competency

• Quantum Information Theory
• AI/ML Evaluation
• Scientific Research
• Quantum Error Correction
• Theoretical Physics
• Mathematical Foundations
• Python Programming
• Algorithm Critique
• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Research Publication