Interested in this Research Scientist role at Brown University Health?
Apply Now →About This Role
- Job ID: JR\-110826
- Entity: Brown Health Medical Group
- Location Name: Brown Health Medical Group
- City, State: Providence, RI
- Work Type: FULL TIME
- Hours Per Week: 40
- Shift: Day
- Posted Date: 6/10/2026
SUMMARY
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Reports to Vice Chair of EM Research, Brown Emergency Medicine and The President, Brown Emergency Medicine; Chair \& Physician\-in\-Chief, Dept. of Emergency Medicine; Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University; Rhode Island/Hasbro Children’s, The Miriam, and Newport Hospitals, Brown University Health. Brown University Health employees are expected to successfully role model the organization's values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence as these values guide our everyday actions with patients, customers, and one another. In addition to our values, all employees are expected to demonstrate the core Success Factors which tell us how we work together and how we get things done. The core Success Factors include:
- Instill Trust and Value Differences
- Patient and Community Focus
- Collaborate
RESPONSIBILITIES
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The EM Research Scientist, in collaboration with the VC, will contribute to the department’s national and international reputation and in alignment with the department’s goals will effectuate research initiatives advancing the research mission through visionary planning and implementation. Ensure accurate collection and analysis of data gathered in research experiments. Interpret data using statistical methodology. Prepare, write, and present papers for publication as the principal investigator on research projects. Participate in Hospital committees both research and non\-research. Contact individuals both internal and external to the Hospital to provide professional consultation within area of expertise and to exchange information. Identify internal and external funding opportunities and work with departmental and Brown University Health Office of Research Administration on completion of grant application. Review current literature to update approaches to research being conducted. In collaboration with the Research Center Manager, provide oversight of research team, including:
- Hiring
- Training
- Assigning work to complete
- Providing feedback
- Evaluating performance
- When necessary, disciplining
Assume primary responsibility for project team communication and compliance with policies and procedures for research and administrative functions in research setting.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
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BASIC KNOWLEDGE: Requires completion of a M.D. and/or Ph.D. in the appropriate scientific field. Academic appointment at the level of Assistant Professor or higher with primary appointment in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine of Brown University. Requires an in\-depth knowledge of the scientific field in which research is being performed. Requires one\-year experience in research and demonstrates ability to communicate clearly in English, verbally and in written form.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
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- Administrative and leadership experience in academic medicine
- Extensive experience in research, particularly in grant writing, funding acquisition, and project management
WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
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This role requires mild to moderate physical effort to perform office work, including typing, responding to emails, and fulfilling meeting schedules.
INDEPENDENT ACTION
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Performs independently within the department’s policies and practices. Refers specific complex problems to the supervisor when clarification of the departmental policies and procedures are required. The role involves access to, preparation of, and use of confidential information related to research projects, grants, faculty communication, and departmental strategy.
Pay Range
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$68,000\.00 \- $340,000\.00
Location
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Brown Health Medical Group \- 167 Point Street Providence, Rhode Island 02903
Work Type
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M\-F 8:00am \- 5:00pm
Work Shift
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Day
Daily Hours
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8 hours
Driving Required
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Yes
*Brown University Health is committed to providing equal employment opportunities and maintaining a work environment free from all forms of unlawful discrimination and harassment.*
Salary Context
This $68K-$340K range is above the median for Research Scientist roles in our dataset (median: $183K across 117 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
Research Scientists push the boundaries of what AI can do. They design experiments, develop novel architectures, publish papers, and translate research breakthroughs into production capabilities. This is where the fundamental advances happen, from attention mechanisms to diffusion models to reasoning chains.
The work is intellectually demanding and often ambiguous. You might spend months on an approach that doesn't pan out. The best research scientists combine deep mathematical intuition with engineering pragmatism. They know when to go deep on theory and when to run experiments. They read papers voraciously and can spot incremental contributions from genuine breakthroughs.
Across the 4,133 AI roles we're tracking, Research Scientist positions make up 3% of the market. At Brown University Health, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: reading and discussing recent papers with your team, designing and running experiments on multi-GPU clusters, analyzing results and iterating on hypotheses, writing up findings for internal review or publication, and collaborating with engineering teams to productionize promising results. The ratio of thinking to coding is higher than in engineering roles.
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
Skills in Demand for This Role
PhD strongly preferred for most roles. Deep expertise in a specific area (NLP, computer vision, reinforcement learning, multimodal) is expected. PyTorch is the standard. Publication track record matters. Strong mathematical foundations in linear algebra, probability, optimization, and information theory are assumed.
Beyond the fundamentals, companies value experience with large-scale distributed training, novel architecture design, and the ability to bridge theory and practice. Understanding of current frontier topics (reasoning, multimodal, long-context, alignment) is essential. Code quality matters more than many researchers expect. Labs want researchers who can implement their ideas cleanly.
Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
Compensation Benchmarks
Research Scientist roles pay a median of $223,400 based on 307 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $165,778. This role's midpoint ($204K) sits 9% below the category median. Disclosed range: $68K to $340K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $200,700. Top-quartile compensation starts at $254,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($274,200) and AI Engineering Manager ($268,700). By seniority level: Entry: $97,760; Mid: $165,778; Senior: $227,400; Director: $250,000; VP: $250,000.
Brown University Health AI Hiring
Brown University Health has 2 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Scientist. Based in Providence, RI, US. Compensation range: $142K - $340K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 14% (583 positions) offer remote work, while 3,532 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,760 roles, $211,000 median); San Francisco (2,258 roles, $253,000 median); Los Angeles (1,841 roles, $195,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into Research Scientist roles include PhD Student, Research Engineer, Postdoc.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Research Lead, Distinguished Scientist, VP of Research.
The PhD is the entry point for most paths. Choose your advisor and research area carefully since they'll define your first industry position. Publish consistently, contribute to open-source projects in your area, and build relationships at conferences. Industry research offers better compensation and compute resources than academia, but the pressure to show product impact is real.
What to Expect in Interviews
Research interviews are multi-stage: a research talk (present your best paper), technical deep-dives on your methodology, and often a 'research proposal' exercise where you design an experiment to test a hypothesis. Coding rounds test implementation ability alongside theoretical knowledge. Be prepared to implement a paper from scratch and discuss the design choices the authors made. Strong candidates can critique papers constructively and identify gaps in experimental methodology.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong research postings specify the research area, mention the team you'd join, and describe the problems they're working on. They often list recent publications from the team. Vague 'AI research' postings without specifics usually mean the company wants to sound impressive but doesn't have a real research agenda.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 4,133 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 106 entry-level, 1,901 mid-level, 1,663 senior, and 463 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 14% of the market (583 positions). The remaining 3,532 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $200,700. Top-quartile compensation starts at $254,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($274,200 median, 57 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($268,700 median, 42 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 442 roles).
Research Scientist roles are concentrated at major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Meta FAIR) and well-funded AI startups. The competition is intense. PhD is effectively required for most positions, and publication track record matters. Compensation is among the highest in AI, reflecting both the scarcity of talent and the strategic importance of research breakthroughs.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 4,133 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,865), Data Scientist (339), AI Software Engineer (313). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (106) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,901) and senior (1,663) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 463 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 14% of all AI roles (583 positions), with 3,532 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $200,700. Top-quartile roles start at $254,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $307,500. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $274,200 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (2,128 postings), Aws (1,324 postings), Azure (1,003 postings), Rag (916 postings), Gcp (817 postings), Pytorch (655 postings), Prompt Engineering (639 postings), Claude (571 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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