Scientific ML Engineer - PhD Intern

Bespoke Labs is a VC-backed applied AI research startup building core infrastructure and RL environments to train and evaluate intelligent agents. Home of Open Thoughts (100K+ monthly downloads, 200+ models trained) and Terminal Bench, a leading agentic coding benchmark used by frontier labs. Founded by ex-Google Deep Mind and UC Berkeley faculty. Advised by Jeff Dean.

This role sits at the intersection of physics-based modeling and ML. You'll own calibration, inversion, deconvolution, and uncertainty quantification pipelines across multiple scientific domains — implementing directly from primary literature to build production-grade infrastructure that supports agent training and evaluation at frontier scale.

This is a contractor engagement. Fully async, no core hours, milestone-based delivery.

PhD awarded or active candidacy (3rd year minimum) in a relevant physical science, engineering, or computational field.

Strong fits come from one of these backgrounds:

• Astrophysics research scientist — spectral fitting, telescope calibration, time‑series modeling
• Computational physicist / geophysicist — seismic inversion, atmospheric retrieval, waveform modeling
• Applied signal processing engineer — radar, sonar, RF, MEMS
• Biomedical imaging engineer — MRI, cryo‑EM, flow cytometry
• Remote sensing / earth observation engineer — LiDAR, satellite altimetry, eddy covariance
• Scientific software engineer — production pipelines around physical models
• ML research engineer (physics background) — JAX/PyTorch, physics‑informed models
• Analytical chemist / materials scientist — XRD, NMR, ellipsometry
• Quantitative neuroscientist — spike sorting, Neuropixels, electrophysiology

Astrophysics & physical sciences
: spectral energy distribution fitting, telescope calibration pipelines, seismic waveform inversion, atmospheric radiative transfer, mass spectrometry deconvolution, cryogenic detector calibration

Engineering & signal processing
: adaptive optics wavefront reconstruction, sonar beamforming, RF near‑field transformation, MEMS Allan variance characterization, RCS modeling

Biomedical & life sciences
: MRI shimming and eddy current correction, cryo‑EM CTF estimation, Neuropixels spike sorting, flow cytometry compensation, pharmacokinetic modeling

Earth & environmental
:
LiDAR point cloud classification, eddy covariance flux partitioning, satellite altimetry waveform retracking, tide gauge datum transformation

Materials & chemistry
: XRD Rietveld refinement, ellipsometry model fitting, NMR multiplet analysis

• PhD awarded or active candidacy (3rd year minimum)
• Numerical methods depth: least squares, regularization, spectral analysis, optimization
• Python + scientific stack:
  Num Py, Sci Py, PyTorch or JAX
• Ability to implement algorithms directly from primary literature
• Async communication and independent milestone delivery Nice to have
  • Publication record in a relevant domain
  • Instrument‑specific artifact experience (eddy currents, Allan variance, CTF estimation)
  • GPU‑accelerated numerical computation
  • Open‑source scientific software contributions
  Education Preference

  We give preference to candidates from top engineering programs, with a strong emphasis on globally recognized institutions.

  • Schedule:
    
    Fully async, no core hours
  • Compensation:
    Competitive rate, commensurate with experience
  Our Commitment

  At Bespoke Labs.
  
  AI, we believe that diverse perspectives and backgrounds make us stronger. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming environment for everyone, regardless of race, gender, age, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.

  We are dedicated to ensuring that our hiring process is fair, transparent, and accessible. If you require any reasonable accommodations at any stage of the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to let us know — we're happy to help.

  All applicant data is collected and handled responsibly, in full compliance with applicable privacy laws and our internal data protection policies. Your information will only be used for recruitment purposes and will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

  We're building something special at Bespoke Labs.
  
  AI, and we want the best minds, from all walks of life, to be a part of it.