Application Guide

How to Apply for Researcher, Evaluations

at Epoch AI

🏢 About Epoch AI

Epoch AI is a dedicated research team focused on understanding and forecasting the trajectory of advanced AI development. Working here means contributing to high-impact research that informs policymakers and the AI community, all within a fully remote and collaborative environment.

About This Role

As a Researcher in Evaluations, you will design and refine benchmark suites that test frontier AI models on realistic, complex tasks. Your work directly shapes how the community measures AI progress, making your assessments crucial for guiding safe and beneficial AI development.

💡 A Day in the Life

You might start by analyzing recent model outputs on a new task you're curating, then refine the grading rubric based on initial results. After lunch, you could automate the evaluation pipeline in Python and later collaborate with the team to draft a blog post summarizing key findings. The day ends with reviewing literature on emerging evaluation challenges.

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Interview Prep

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🎯 Who Epoch AI Is Looking For

  • Has hands-on experience designing or curating AI benchmarks, especially for large language models or multimodal systems.
  • Proficient in Python and data analysis libraries (e.g., pandas, numpy) to automate evaluation pipelines and analyze results.
  • Skilled in creating clear visualizations and writing concise reports or blog posts that communicate technical findings to non-experts.
  • Familiar with the frontier AI landscape (e.g., GPT-4, Claude, Gemini) and current evaluation challenges like contamination or task difficulty calibration.

📝 Tips for Applying to Epoch AI

1

Highlight any previous work with benchmark suites (e.g., MMLU, BIG-bench, HumanEval) and describe your specific contributions.

2

Include a link to a portfolio or GitHub repository with evaluation code, data analysis, or visualizations you've created.

3

Mention experience with rubric design or qualitative assessment of AI outputs, not just quantitative metrics.

4

Tailor your resume to emphasize data automation and reproducibility—Epoch AI values rigorous, scalable workflows.

5

In your cover letter, reference a specific Epoch AI publication or blog post and explain how your skills align with their research direction.

✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter

['Your passion for understanding and measuring AI capabilities, not just building models.', "Concrete examples of how you've designed evaluation tasks or grading rubrics for complex AI systems.", 'Your ability to communicate findings effectively to diverse audiences, citing a past report or visualization you created.', "Why Epoch AI's mission resonates with you and how you see this role contributing to their long-term research goals."]

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🔍 Research Before Applying

To stand out, make sure you've researched:

  • → Read Epoch AI's recent blog posts on AI trends, especially those discussing evaluation methodologies or model capability forecasting.
  • → Review their published datasets or benchmarks (e.g., their work on 'Measuring AI Ability to Complete Long Tasks').
  • → Understand their research philosophy: they focus on empirical, data-driven analysis of AI progress, not hype.
  • → Check their team page to see current researchers' backgrounds and identify potential collaborators or mentors.
Visit Epoch AI's Website →

💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics

Based on this role, you may be asked about:

1 How would you design a benchmark to test a frontier model's ability to perform multi-step reasoning in a realistic scenario?
2 Describe a time you had to calibrate task difficulty to avoid ceiling or floor effects in an evaluation.
3 How do you ensure reproducibility and fairness when evaluating models that may have been trained on similar data?
4 Walk us through how you would automate the grading of an open-ended task (e.g., writing a business memo).
5 What are the limitations of current AI benchmarks, and how would you address them in a new evaluation suite?
Practice Interview Questions →

⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Submitting a generic application without referencing Epoch AI's specific research or publications.
  • Focusing only on model development experience without demonstrating evaluation or benchmarking skills.
  • Overlooking the importance of communication—this role requires writing reports and blog posts, so show those abilities.

📅 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:

1

Application Review

1-2 weeks

2

Initial Screening

Phone call or written assessment

3

Interviews

1-2 rounds, usually virtual

✓

Offer

Congratulations!

Ready to Apply?

Good luck with your application to Epoch AI!

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