{"id":525586,"url":"https://alion.io/job/basis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call","title":"Postdoctoral Fellow, Open Call","company":{"id":17875,"name":"Basis","domain":"basis.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/basis","size_band":"1-10","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":95,"open_postings":13,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":294,"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"}},"role":"Science & Research","role_family":"Science & Research","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["New York, United States","Cambridge, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":100000,"max":100000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":100000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2025-05-23T13:26:26Z","employer_posted_date":"2025-05-23","last_verified_at":"2026-11-02T05:19:51Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":527,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":527},"description":"About the Fellowship\nPostdoctoral Fellowships at Basis offer an immersive research environment for highly qualified researchers to deepen their expertise in computational theories of intelligence, including but not limited to reasoning, learning, and decision-making. Fellows will work closely with Basis Research Scientists and partnering Principal Investigators (PIs) from academic institutions.\nAbout Basis\nBasis is a nonprofit applied AI research organization with two mutually reinforcing goals.\nThe first is to understand and build intelligence. This means to establish the mathematical principles of what it means to reason, to learn, to make decisions, to understand, and to explain; and to construct software that implements these principles.\nThe second is to advance society’s ability to solve intractable problems. This means expanding the scale, complexity, and breadth of problems that we can solve today, and even more importantly, accelerating our ability to solve problems in the future.\nTo achieve these goals, we’re building both a new technological foundation that draws inspiration from how humans reason, and a new kind of collaborative organization that puts human values first.\nHow it works\nBasis Postdoctoral Fellows are jointly mentored and funded by Basis and partner PIs at academic institutions. Fellows split their time between Basis and the academic PI’s lab, functioning like a jointly advised postdoctoral position.\nEstablished partner PIs include: Nada Amin (Harvard), Kevin Ellis (Cornell), Armando Solar-Lezama (MIT), Youssef Marzouk (MIT), and Tom Silver (Princeton).\n\nEach Fellow is paired with a Basis mentor selected to align with the Fellow’s research program and goals.\nPossible Basis mentors include: Emily Mackevicius, Zenna Tavares, Eli Bingham, Matt Levine, and others.\n\nThis structure offers a distinctive research environment that blends the strengths of academia and industry. Fellows have the autonomy to shape their own research agendas while benefiting from mentorship, collaboration, and resources from both settings.\n\nThere are two pathways into the Fellowship: joining an existing project or proposing a new research direction through our open call.\nExisting projects: Fellows are jointly employed with an established partner PI. Some roles have a single designated PI; others offer a choice from a curated shortlist. Open positions are listed on our job board.\n\nOpen call: Applicants may propose a new research direction through the Open Call on our job board, and are encouraged to suggest potential PI mentors, (including academics not listed as established partner PIs). If selected, Fellows will work with Basis to establish a new academic collaboration.\n\nWho we’re looking for\nResearchers holding a PhD in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computational neuroscience, cognitive science, or related fields.\n\nIndividuals with a demonstrated track record in scientific research, evidenced through publications, technical reports, or impactful software projects.\n\nCore Responsibilities\nConduct independent and collaborative research within the thematic areas of Basis, focusing on computational theories of intelligence.\n\nDisseminate research findings through academic publications and presentations at leading conferences.\n\nActively engage in knowledge transfer within Basis and with external partners, converting research into actionable insights and algorithms.\n\nProvide mentorship to junior team members and contribute to the scientific discourse at Basis through seminars, workshops, and collaborative projects.\n\nRole Details\nFull-time: This fellowship is full-time and has a fixed duration of 1 to 2 years.\n\nLocation: Limited to the New York City and Boston areas; this is an in-person position.\n\nSalary: Competitive with leading postdoctoral fellowships.\n\nStart date: Applications reviewed on a rolling Basis. Immediate start possible.\n\nApplication Components\nPlease submit the following:\nA cover letter (no more than 2 pages) that includes:\nA brief description of your PhD research and past accomplishments\n\nA list of at least three potential PI mentors outside of Basis. If you have a relationship with them or have already discussed the proposed work with them, please let us know.\n\nYour CV\n\nA research proposal (no more than 3 pages, not including references) outlining plans for research to be performed.\n\nFAQs\nHow is this fellowship different from a Research Scientist position at Basis?\nDifferences\nDuration: The fellowship is time-limited, usually spanning 1 to 2 years, unlike the Research Scientist roles which are permanent positions.\n\nAcademic Collaboration: Fellows will have co-mentorship from academic PIs.\n\nEmphasis on Publication: Fellows are expected to publish their research, aligning more closely with traditional academic roles.\n\nSimilarities\nContributions to Core Technology: Like Research Scientists, fellows are expected to contribute code to Basis core technology. Basis will support Postdoctoral scientists without extensive software engineering experience to develop these skills.\n\nResearch Funds: Fellows will have access to an annual allocation of research funds ($5,000) to be used for research expenses, skill development, conference attendance, and more.\n\nIntegration with the Basis community: Fellows will participate in Basis events, on-sites, and other activities, and may collaborate on other Basis projects.\n\nWhat happens after the fellowship?\nPostdoctoral Fellows may be offered a full-time Research Scientist position at Basis, contingent upon performance and organizational needs.\n\nDo I need to propose a collaborator PI? Can I apply without one?\nWe ask that you suggest three or more potential PIs you would be interested in working with in your cover letter. These might be people you’ve been in contact with before, or not. If you do have a relationship or have discussed your project ideas with them before, let us know. The eventual project collaborator is not required to come from this list.\n\nShould I apply to the open call position, or to an established team position?\nApplicants may apply to both, if desired.\n\nEstablished team calls do not require submission of a Research Plan, as they are positioned within an existing Basis research area and are already internally and/or externally funded.\n\nEstablished team calls are likely to move faster, for the same reasons.\n\nNon-Discrimination Notice\nBasis Research Institute provides equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or genetics and prohibits discrimination based on all protected characteristics.\nPrivacy Notice\nBy submitting your application, you grant Basis permission to use your materials for both hiring evaluation and recruitment-related research and development purposes. Your information may be processed in different countries, including the US. You retain copyright while providing Basis a license to use these materials for the stated purposes.\nRead our full Global Data Privacy Notice here.","description_format":"text","description_chars":7104,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"phd","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["AI Research Labs","Nonprofits & Foundations","Research Institutes"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-08T05:22:08Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":16,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.443,"p_room":0.36,"age_days":526,"expected_fill_days":294,"reasons":["conf:1","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-11-01T06:10:25Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":100000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/basis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/basis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-02T05:33:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":8074,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-03T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":17875},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=17875"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fbasis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fbasis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fbasis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/basis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fbasis-postdoctoral-fellow-open-call"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":525586}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"basis.ai","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":525586},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}