Hire AI researchers
Research hiring fails in a predictable way: teams hire a researcher to do engineering, or an engineer to do research, and both people leave within a year. Decide first whether you need new capability or reliable delivery of known capability — this page is for the former.
Free to search, every filter open · opens filtered to Research.
30 scored profiles match — here are the top 6
How to tell a real one from a résumé that says the words
- Work that exists in public: papers, benchmarks, open models, reproducible results — research that nobody can see is hard to evaluate.
- A track record of negative results they can describe honestly. Research is mostly things that didn't work.
- Post-training experience specifically, if you are adapting frontier models rather than building one.
- Some engineering discipline. A researcher who cannot ship anything is expensive in a small team.
How to hire AI researchers with this database
- Filter to research, then check the AI Research capability rung — it is scored on training, architectures, RLHF, benchmarks and publications rather than on job title.
- Cross-filter by pedigree (PhD, AI Lab) only if it genuinely matters to you. It narrows fast and excludes strong self-taught people.
- Ask for one result and its limitations. Willingness to state the limitation is most of the signal.
Every filter is free and each search shows the top 10 matches with the true total. The full ranked list is a single one-time payment — see pricing.
Questions about hiring AI researchers
When should a startup hire an AI researcher instead of an engineer?
When your differentiation depends on capability that does not exist off the shelf — a domain model, a novel training approach, an evaluation nobody has built. If you are assembling existing models into a product, an engineer will get you there faster and cheaper.
Do AI researchers need a PhD?
For frontier training work it is common; for applied research it is not required and often not the best predictor. Published artifacts, reproducible results and post-training experience tell you more than the credential does.
How much do AI researchers cost?
More than engineers, and the gap widens with frontier-lab experience — this is the most competitive corner of the market. Our cost guide breaks down the bands and what actually moves them.
Hiring for a different AI role?
Or search by the skill you need
Everyone in here is scored 0–100 on what they have demonstrably shipped, with the reason behind every number.
Search the database →Scores reflect public professional signals only, and anyone can ask to be removed. Hiring decisions stay yours — this is a starting point, not a verdict on anyone's ability. Being hired for AI work yourself? Score your own profile.