Anthropic· AI Research & Engineering· San Francisco, CA
Research Scientist, Societal Impacts
Classified Tasks (12)
Automate 0%Augment 75%Human-Only 25%
Augment (9)
AI assists, human decides
Close the loop between observed Claude behavior and model-level improvements by translating findings into concrete interventions
technical
Analyze real-world usage patterns using observational tools like Clio and surface insights about user interactions with Claude
analytical
Build evaluations that assess Claude's behavior for alignment with its Constitution across safety and other key dimensions
analytical
Run evaluations to measure Claude's safety and quality of advice in high-stakes situations
operational
Generate insights about the societal impacts of Anthropic's systems from empirical analyses
analytical
Publish research and present findings externally through research publications and presentations
communication
Develop tools and frameworks to make AI systems more understandable to policymakers, academics, and civil society
technical
Perform hands-on technical research and implementation work to support model improvements and evaluations
technical
Surface actionable recommendations for improving Claude based on observational and evaluation results
analytical
Human-Only (3)
Requires human judgment
Partner with fine-tuning, safeguards, policy, and interpretability teams to translate research insights into model improvements
leadership
Inform company strategy, research priorities, and policy positions using research findings on societal impacts
leadership
Help set research direction and contribute to defining research priorities for the Models Research Pod
leadership
Job description
About Anthropic Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. We want AI to be safe and beneficial for our users and for society as a whole. Our team is a quickly growing group of committed researchers, engineers, policy experts, and business leaders working together to build beneficial AI systems. About the role As a Societal Impacts research scientist on the Models Research Pod, you'll close the loop between observing Claude's behavior and improving it at the model level. You'll use observational tools like Clio to analyze real-world usage patterns and build evaluations that assess whether Claude provides safe responses aligned with its Constitution . Strong candidates will have experience with machine learning systems and a genuine interest in societal impacts research. You should be adaptable and excited to contribute to evolving team priorities rather than coming in with a fixed agenda. The role is highly cross-functional, with regular collaboration across the fine-tuning, safeguards, policy, and interpretability teams. We're hiring at both junior and senior levels. Senior researchers should be comfortable doing hands-on technical work alongside helping set research direction. For this role, we are open to a 6-month residency at Anthropic with the expectation that residents convert to full-time if they do well in their residency. We are exclusively hiring in SF. We support relocation, but all hires must relocate before starting. Responsibilities: Using observational tools like Clio to analyze real-world usage patterns and surface insights about how people interact with Claude. Building and running evaluations to assess Claude's behavior across key dimensions of its Constitution , such as safety and quality of advice in high-stakes situations. Partnering closely with fine-tuning, safeguards, policy, and interpretability teams to translate research insights into model improvements. Generating insights about the societal impact of Anthropic's systems and using this understanding to inform company strategy, research priorities, and policy positions. Sharing your work through research publications and external presentations, and developing tools and frameworks that make AI systems more understandable to policymakers, academics, and civil society. You may be a good fit if: You have experience working with machine learning systems and are comfortable with technical infrastructure for interfacing with models. You have an interest in societal impacts research; prior experience in this area is a plus but not required. You're adaptable and collaborative, able to take direction and contribute to team priorities rather than needing to pursue a predetermined research agenda. You're skilled at writing up and communicating your results, even when they're null or unexpected. You find it exciting to partner with colleagues across teams on large-scale projects where the whole company contributes to building and analyzing AI systems. You have a background in machine learning, data science, or another technical field that involves generating insights from complex systems. You're passionate about translating research insights into actionable recommendations for improving AI systems and informing policy. For senior candidates: you're willing to do hands-on work while also helping shape research direction, and you may be interested in management opportunities down the line. <strong