Application Guide
How to Apply for Human-AI Interaction Designer
at Firstprinciples
🏢 About Firstprinciples
FirstPrinciples is a non-profit research organization building AI infrastructure for scientific discovery, currently focused on fundamental physics. What sets them apart is their mission-driven, remote-first culture and their work on ambitious, open-ended problems like designing AI that can reason through scientific questions. If you're excited about the intersection of AI and fundamental science and enjoy tackling undefined challenges, this is a unique place to make an impact.
About This Role
As a Human-AI Interaction Designer, you'll own the end-to-end experience of designing how scientists interact with advanced AI systems like Theo, the AI Physicist. This involves inventing new interaction paradigms to make model behaviour and uncertainty legible, and iterating from concepts to implementation. Your work will directly shape how researchers explore fundamental physics, making complex AI understandable and usable.
💡 A Day in the Life
A typical day might start with a sync with researchers to understand their latest experiments with Theo, then sketching interaction concepts for making a new model output (e.g., symbolic equations) interpretable. You'd spend the afternoon prototyping in Figma, reviewing a design with engineers, and conducting a quick usability test with a physicist. The day ends with async updates on Slack as colleagues across time zones weigh in.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who Firstprinciples Is Looking For
- You have experience designing interfaces for complex, data-rich systems (e.g., scientific tools, AI/ML dashboards) and have a portfolio showcasing how you've made uncertainty or model behaviour understandable.
- You're comfortable with ambiguity and iterative design—you can start from a vague problem statement, prototype rapidly, and refine based on user feedback in a research context.
- You have a working understanding of AI/ML concepts (e.g., model outputs, confidence scores, reasoning chains) and can translate technical constraints into intuitive interactions.
- You're a strong communicator who can collaborate with researchers and engineers, and you're excited by the challenge of designing for scientific discovery rather than consumer apps.
📝 Tips for Applying to Firstprinciples
In your portfolio, include a project where you designed for a non-deterministic system (e.g., AI outputs that vary) and explain how you handled uncertainty in the UI.
Research Theo, the AI Physicist, and mention specific ideas for improving its interaction model in your cover letter or portfolio notes.
Highlight any experience with scientific domains or research environments—even if tangential, like collaborating with domain experts or designing for data exploration.
Since the role is remote-first and spans time zones, mention your experience with async communication and self-directed work in your application.
Avoid generic UX terms like 'user-friendly' or 'intuitive'—instead, use specific language about making complex AI reasoning legible and supporting scientific workflows.
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
["Explain why you're drawn to the mission of advancing fundamental science through AI, and how your design philosophy aligns with their non-profit, research-driven approach.", "Describe a specific challenge you've faced in making an AI system's behaviour understandable to users, and how you solved it—this demonstrates your fit for the role's core challenge.", "Emphasize your comfort with ambiguity and iteration, and give an example of how you've taken a project from vague concept to polished implementation.", "Mention your interest in the open-ended nature of the work—designing for questions that don't have clear answers—and how you thrive in that environment."]
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → Read about Theo, the AI Physicist—its current capabilities and how researchers interact with it—to understand the design challenges firsthand.
- → Explore FirstPrinciples' blog or publications to grasp their philosophy on AI for science and their vision for how AI can accelerate discovery.
- → Look into related work in human-AI interaction, especially in scientific or research contexts (e.g., papers from CHI or NeurIPS workshops on AI for science).
- → Understand the remote-first culture: check their LinkedIn or team page to see how they operate across time zones and what tools they use for async collaboration.
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Don't submit a generic portfolio focused on e-commerce or social media apps—this role is about scientific, data-heavy interactions, so tailor your examples.
- Avoid claiming you have all the answers or a fixed design process; this role values comfort with ambiguity and iterative exploration.
- Don't neglect to address the non-profit aspect—if you seem primarily motivated by profit or prestige, it may be a mismatch with their mission-driven culture.
📅 Application Timeline
This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!
Ready to Apply?
Good luck with your application to Firstprinciples!