Join Prior Foundry as a Founding Research Engineer to bridge the gap between applied research and production systems. You will lead efforts in benchmarking simulations on policy problems, building specialized agents for economic analysis, and owning the end-to-end AI/ML layer. This role is pivotal in shaping how simulations impact real-world governance and social sciences.
Founding Engineer - Research at Prior Foundry
Prior Foundry is looking for a Founding Research Engineer to push the boundaries of simulations and LLMs in the social sciences. Based in London or NYC, you'll bridge the gap between research and production, building specialized agents to solve critical public policy problems. This is a rare chance to own the AI/ML layer end-to-end at a high-growth startup, with the autonomy to shape company direction and considerable equity upside. If you have 2-3 years of ML experience and a passion for public sector impact, join us in transforming how governments and institutions use simulation technology.
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Location
London, United Kingdom
Compensation
Not Disclosed + Equity
Company
Prior Foundry
Role overview
Fundamentally changing the way government policy is drafted, evaluated and implemented. Team of political and computer scientists from Stanford, Cambridge and Oxford.
What you will do
- Lead the benchmarking of advanced simulations on new policy problems across diverse fields like econometrics and causal inference.
- Build and deploy specialized research agents and production-grade data pipelines to support complex social and economic policy workflows.
- Own the entire AI/ML stack, including model selection, fine-tuning, inference infrastructure, and the continuous feedback loops that drive model improvement.
Who this is a fit for
- Possesses 2–3 years of experience building ML systems in production or conducting deep applied research in ML or statistical domains.
- Demonstrates strong proficiency in Python and modern ML tooling, with a proven track record of moving from research ideas to working systems.
- Combines a genuine interest in public sector problems with the ability to navigate ambiguity and sparse specifications in a startup environment.
Why this role is remarkable
- Sit at the intersection of cutting-edge LLM research and tangible public sector impact, solving high-stakes problems in social and economic policy.
- High-autonomy founding role with considerable equity upside and the opportunity to influence the core architecture of a scaling research-led company.
- Experience a unique global culture with regular travel between Paris, London, and NYC, working directly with users to ground your research in reality.
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Jack gets to know what you're great at and what you want next, then searches 15 million jobs daily and helps you discover roles at companies like this.
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Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack’s network.
If your profile’s a match and Prior Foundry wants to meet, Jill will make the intro. In the meantime, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.