Founding Research Scientist

Founding Research Scientist – Human Attention & Spatial AILocation

UK‑based, remote‑first (occasional London visits, 1 day a month)Employment type

Full‑timeSalary

£60,000–£75,000 baseEquity

0.1%–3.0% optionsVisa sponsorship

Not available (UK Graduate Visa accepted)Role overviewWe helping a small startup hire a Research Scientist to work on applied research at the intersection of human attention, perception and spatial AI.

Founding style role, join as their 3rd hire!The role focuses on building models that predict, interpret and simulate how people attend to and interact with complex visual and spatial environments.

You will work on real‑world problems that connect machine learning, computer vision and cognitive modelling, with a strong emphasis on hands‑on experimentation and practical impact.This position is well suited to researchers interested in spatial AI, embodied AI, XR/VR, simulation, automotive systems, robotics or interactive 3D environments.

Prior experience across all of these areas is not required.What you will work onYou will help design and build models that reason about where people look, what they notice and how attention changes with task, context, motion, layout and semantics.Example work includes:Predicting human attention and gaze in 2D and 3D scenesModelling attention during search, navigation, inspection and decision‑makingConnecting attention with language, goals, objects and scene context using multimodal modelsInferring human intent or priorities from gaze, movement and interaction dataDeveloping evaluation frameworks for human‑like perceptionAdapting foundation models for spatial and human‑centred AI tasksWorking with synthetic and real‑world data such as images, video, depth, 3D scenes, gaze and interaction logsCollaborating with engineers to move research prototypes towards robust systemsResponsibilitiesIn this role, you will:Develop machine learning models for attention, perception, behaviour or intent predictionDesign experiments, baselines, metrics and validation protocolsTrain and evaluate models using visual, spatial, temporal and multimodal dataRead, reproduce and extend relevant researchWork with 2D and 3D data representations including images, video, depth, point clouds and simulated environmentsCommunicate research decisions clearly through notes, demos, presentations and codeContribute to research direction and technical roadmapEssential requirementsPhD in a relevant field (e.g. machine learning, computer vision, robotics, HCI, cognitive science, neuroscience or graphics)Strong research track record (top‑tier publications, patents or substantial open‑source work)Hands‑on deep learning experienceStrong Python skills and experience with PyTorchAbility to independently design, run and evaluate ML experimentsExperience working with complex datasets and rigorous evaluationGenuine interest in human attention, perception or behaviourClear communication skills and comfort working in a small, fast‑moving teamUseful experience (not required)Human attention, gaze modelling, visual saliency or cognitive modelling3D computer vision, spatial AI, simulation, XR/VR or roboticsMultimodal or temporal modellingEgocentric video, eye‑tracking or behavioural dataFoundation model fine‑tuning or evaluationResearch engineering and reproducible ML pipelinesYou are likely to enjoy this role if you:Are curious about how humans perceive and interact with the worldAre comfortable with ambiguity and open‑ended research problemsAre technically strong and able to build and debug your own modelsCare about rigour, evaluation and evidenceEnjoy working in a startup‑style, research‑led environmentWant to turn research ideas into real systems