Research Scientist - Computer Science & Computational Physics

What you'll do

This is research, run with AI models as the instrument and the subject at once. You pick open problems, new bounds or tractable challenges in your own subfield, then use frontier models and agents to attempt proofs, design algorithms or run computational simulations. The part that matters most is checking: you verify proofs, reproduce numerical results, bring in formal tools where they help, and compare what came out against recent published work to judge whether it is correct and genuinely new. You write up methods, partial results and dead ends in clear reports, and flag promising leads for more senior researchers to take further.

It is remote contract work, and micro1 says it can be part-time or full-time. The client is described only as a customer with a high-impact research project.

Who fits

micro1 lists preferences rather than hard requirements. The profile it describes:

• A late-stage PhD candidate, postdoc or early-career academic (0–5 years post-PhD) in computer science or mathematical or computational physics
• Peer recognition such as best paper or dissertation awards at leading venues (the ad cites STOC, FOCS, SODA, PLDI and SC)
• Several top-venue papers in the past three years, ideally including results on named open problems or new concepts
• Hands-on computational work: simulation, numerical analysis, algorithm implementation
• Conference reviewing or sub-reviewing experience, as a plus
• Prior use of frontier models, agents or formal tools such as Lean or SAT/SMT solvers in your research
• A public research statement or homepage that names the open problems you are working on

No AI experience is needed; the domain knowledge is the point. The work is in English.

What it pays

micro1 publishes $100–400/hour. That is a fourfold spread, and the ad gives no basis for placement within it, nor whether pay is hourly or output-based. Expect your publication record to set the number.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Real research on problems you choose, not grading someone else's answers
• A very high ceiling for an early-career researcher
• Flexible part-time or full-time commitment, fully remote
• No country restriction stated

Less good:

• Only four openings, and the preferred profile (award-winning, top-venue publications) is a narrow one
• The ad publishes no compensation structure, weekly hours, screening process or start timeline
• Novelty judgments on AI-assisted results can be slow, and partial results may be most of what you produce
• The customer and how your findings are used or credited are not stated

About this listing

Read on micro1's signed-in jobs board on 18 October 2026, six days after it was posted. The pay band, openings and qualifications are micro1's own text; everything else listed under "Less good" as unstated is genuinely absent from the ad. A more senior version of this role exists for researchers with 7–10+ years of active research: Principal Research Scientist (Computer Science / Computational Physics). See micro1.