Research Scientist, Computational Cognitive Scientist

Research Scientist, Computational Cognitive Scientist

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team in Energy & Materials, Human-Centered AI, Human Interactive Driving, and Robotics.

This opportunity falls within the Future Product Innovation department of the Human-Centered AI Division (HCAI). We are an integrated team of behavioral scientists, ML researchers, and human-computer interaction experts. At the core of our work, we aim to support people to make better decisions by leveraging the best of big data, technology, and insights about why we do what we do.

The Future Product Innovation department seeks to reshape the product development process by amplifying human creativity, improving consumer preference forecasting, and facilitating negotiations of product development tradeoffs.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Computational Cognitive Scientist to lead the development of next-generation computational models of human cognition, behavior, and preferences by leveraging large language models (LLMs) and multimodal learning systems. The role bridges behavior science, machine learning, and computational modeling, focusing on training and fine-tuning LLMs to emulate human decision‑making patterns and predict individual preferences across different contexts such as consumer behavior and product design.

Additional projects explore how to incorporate physiological and brain imaging data into such models.

• Develop generative models that capture dynamic human traits, goals, and aesthetic or functional preferences.
• Design and execute fine-tuning pipelines for modern machine learning architectures using synthetic and human-labeled behavior/preference datasets.
• Integrate human-in-the-loop feedback loops for model calibration and bias correction.
• Collaborate with scientists in the Future Product Innovation Department.
• Participate in meetings with Toyota business groups to tailor our work to business use cases.
• Work collaboratively across subject areas and functions.
• Publish findings in top tier academic journals and/or conferences.

• PhD in Computational Cognitive Science, Computational Neuroscience, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Demonstrated expertise in the development, fine-tuning (e.g., SFT, RLHF) and evaluation of GenAI models in specialized domains.
• Experience implementing and evaluating theories of human behavior computationally.
• Strong data science skills with proficiency in Python.
• Proven track record of working autonomously while soliciting feedback.
• Proven track record of publications at top venues (e.g., CoSyne, NeurIPS, ICML, RLDM).
• Strong interpersonal skills and a great teammate.
• Strong interest in interdisciplinary work.

• Experience working with multimodal datasets about human behavior.
• Experience with interdisciplinary research.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $176,000 and $264,000/year for California-based roles. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, business or organizational needs, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Note that TRI offers a generous benefits package (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave) and an annual cash bonus structure.

Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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