Research Partner

About FirstPrinciples

FirstPrinciples is a non-profit research organization building AI infrastructure for discovery in fundamental science. Currently, our work focuses on building systems like Theo, the AI Physicist, which is a domain-specialized system for research in fundamental physics.

We’re a fast-growing, remote-first team of builders, researchers, engineers, and thinkers working across Canada, the US, the UK, and expanding globally. What brings us together is a shared curiosity about how the universe works, and a belief that we can build systems that help us explore it more effectively.

We spend our time working on questions that don’t have clear answers, like how to design AI that can reason through scientific problems, and how the scientific process as a whole might evolve. This is work that sits somewhere between creativity and rigorous thinking, and often requires comfort with ambiguity and iteration. If you’re someone who enjoys tackling big, abstract problems and exploring ideas that don’t yet have a defined path forward, you’ll likely find the work here interesting.

Why This Role Exists:

We’re building products to accelerate progress in physics - but that only matters if researchers can actually use them effectively. Besides building the technology, the challenge is activating and supporting our users to adopt it, get value quickly, and continue using it over time.

This role exists to bridge that gap. You’ll work across the full user lifecycle: from first interaction to meaningful usage. You’ll help users go from curiosity, to first successful result, to long-term adoption.

Your impact will directly shape how physicists engage with the platform, and ultimately, how much scientific progress we’re able to unlock.

What You’ll Do:

• Work directly with physicists to help them run experiments, interpret results, and unlock value quickly

• Own the end-to-end user lifecycle: from discovery and activation, to onboarding and long-term retention

• Design and improve onboarding flows, workflows, and user journeys that scale across thousands of users

• Build lightweight systems (guides, tooling, automations) to help users graduate from freemium to higher-tier usage

• Identify friction points in the user experience and translate them into product or workflow improvements

• Partner closely with research and engineering to align the system with real user needs

• Act as a technical point of contact for users, someone who can go deep when needed.

Who You Are:

• Strong background in physics (PhD or equivalent depth of experience preferred)

• Comfort and familiarity working hands-on with technical systems, experiments, or computational tools

• Able to translate complex concepts into clear guidance for users

• Passionate about research and experimentation

• Experience supporting users, customers, or researchers at scale (eg. CSM, developer relations, research support, etc.)

• Highly systems-oriented; you think in terms of workflows, repeatability, and scale

• Comfortable with ambiguity and early-stage environments where you define the playbook

• Motivated by impact, you care about helping others get real value from complex systems

What You’ll Get:

• The opportunity to work on foundational problems at the intersection of AI and physics

• A high-trust, low-bureaucracy environment with real ownership

• Remote-first work with flexibility in how you structure your day

• Exposure to cutting-edge ideas across AI, scientific discovery, and emerging technologies

• A culture that values curiosity, depth of thinking, and first-principles reasoning

• The chance to contribute to work aimed at advancing fundamental science