{"id":2370643,"url":"https://alion.io/job/runway-prototype-researcher","title":"Prototype Researcher","company":{"id":48213,"name":"Runway","domain":"runwayml.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/runwayml","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":92,"open_postings":35,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.314,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":59,"computed_at":"2026-10-13T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"inferred","locations":["Seattle, United States","New York, United States","San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":{"min":250000,"max":310000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":310000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Runway","optional":false},{"name":"World Models","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T16:01:06Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-12","last_verified_at":"2026-10-13T15:03:03Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":1,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":1},"description":"We are building AI to simulate the world through merging art and science.\nWe believe that world models are at the frontier of progress in artificial intelligence. Language models alone won’t solve the world’s hardest problems - robotics, disease, scientific discovery. Real progress requires models that experience the world and learn from their mistakes, the same way that humans do. And this kind of trial and error can be massively accelerated when done in simulation, rather than in the real world.\nWorld models offer the most clear path to general-purpose simulation, changing how stories are told, how scientific progress is made and how the next frontiers of humanity are reached.\nOur team consists of creative, open minded, caring and ambitious people who are determined to change the world. We aspire to continuously build impossible things and our ability to do so relies on building an incredible team. If you are driven to do the same, we'd love to hear from you.\nAbout the role\n*Open to hiring remote across the US - we also have offices in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.\nWe are looking for a Prototype Researcher to join Runway Labs - our research and exploration team pushing the frontier of AI video and General World Models. You’ll imagine, design, and build experimental experiences that make emerging AI capabilities tangible and communicate a compelling vision for where the technology is heading.\nThis role combines creative thinking, hands-on prototyping, and storytelling. You should be able to develop an original idea, build a working prototype, and shape it into a clear, memorable demonstration. Your work will help people understand new AI systems through experiences they can see, use, and engage with.\nWorking closely with researchers, engineers, and designers, you’ll explore new interfaces and interaction paradigms for AI-generated video, world models, and agentic systems. The focus is on research explorations that express our vision, reveal new possibilities, and strengthen Runway’s position as a full-stack research organization.\nWe’re looking for a motivated self-starter with strong creative judgment, technical fluency, and a portfolio that shows both what you can build and how well you can communicate an idea.\nWhat you’ll do\nDevelop original concepts that explore the possibilities of emerging AI systems, from interactive video and world models to agentic experiences.\n\nDesign and build working prototypes that turn research capabilities into engaging, understandable experiences.\n\nShape each project’s story: what it explores, why it matters, and what it suggests about the future.\n\nPackage explorations into polished demos, films, and interactive experiences that communicate our research and vision.\n\nCollaborate with researchers and engineers to understand new capabilities and identify compelling ways to demonstrate them.\n\nMove quickly through experimentation, using prototypes to test ideas and refine both the experience and its narrative.\n\nWhat you’ll need\nA portfolio of original projects that demonstrates creative thinking, design craft, technical execution, and strong storytelling.\n\nThe ability to take an idea from an early concept to a working prototype and a compelling presentation.\n\nHands-on experience building interactive experiences with code, with the judgment to choose the right tools for each experiment.\n\nStrong visual and interaction design skills, with an eye for detail and an instinct for making complex ideas accessible.\n\nGenuine curiosity about AI video, world models, agentic systems, and emerging generative media.\n\nComfort working in ambiguous research environments, defining your own direction, and learning new tools as the work evolves.\n\nThe ability to explain the purpose and potential of your work clearly, through writing, visuals, demos, or film.\n\nRunway strives to recruit and retain exceptional talent from diverse backgrounds while ensuring pay equity for our team. Our salary ranges are based on competitive market rates for our size, stage and industry, and salary is just one part of the overall compensation package we provide.\nThere are many factors that go into salary determinations, including relevant experience, skill level and qualifications assessed during the interview process, and maintaining internal equity with peers on the team. The range shared below is a general expectation for the function as posted, but we are also open to considering candidates who may be more or less experienced than outlined in the job description. In this case, we will communicate any updates in the expected salary range.\nLastly, the provided range is the expected salary for candidates in the U.S. Outside of those regions, there may be a change in the range, which again, will be communicated to candidates.\nWorking at Runway\nGreat things come from great teams.We’d love to hear from you.\nWe’re committed to creating a space where our employees can bring their full selves to work and have equal opportunity to succeed. So regardless of race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, origin, ability, age, veteran status, if joining this mission speaks to you, we encourage you to apply.\nMore about Runway\nUniversal World Simulator\n\nGWM-1\n\nGen-4.5\n\nGeneral World Models\n\nRobotics SDK\n\nConversational Real-time Agents\n\nRunway Studios\n\nWe're excited to be recognized as a best place to work:\nCrain's | InHerSight | BuiltIn NYC | INC","description_format":"text","description_chars":5449,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"},{"name":"New York","iso":null,"kind":"city"},{"name":"San Francisco","iso":null,"kind":"city"},{"name":"Seattle","iso":null,"kind":"city"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Generative Video","AI Research Labs"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-12T17:31:00Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":59,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-13T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":310000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/runway-prototype-researcher","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/runway-prototype-researcher.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-13T16:37:12Z","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":25170,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z"}},"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":48213},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=48213"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Frunway-prototype-researcher"},{"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%2Frunway-prototype-researcher"},{"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%2Frunway-prototype-researcher"},{"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/runway-prototype-researcher\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Frunway-prototype-researcher"}]}