You will own the development of real-time vision-language models and agentic AI systems that provide hands-free guidance to datacenter and energy infrastructure technicians. This role involves turning raw visual perception into actionable field intelligence, working directly with founders to ship production-ready AI that interacts with the physical world for multi-billion-dollar customers.
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Research Assistant (Founding Team) at Alcor Labs
Join a high-growth startup founded by NASA, Harvard, and MIT researchers building the first AI co-pilot for the physical world. This isn't just a research project—the team is already live with multi-billion-dollar customers in the energy and datacenter sectors. As a founding team member, you'll bridge the gap between cutting-edge vision-language models and real-world execution, deploying smart-glass AI that guides technicians through complex procedures in real-time. If you were a top-tier research assistant who chose building over a PhD, this is your chance to own a core part of the agentic AI stack in San Francisco.
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Location
San Francisco, United States
Compensation
Not Disclosed
Company
Alcor Labs
Role overview
Vision AI, Wearable AI, field services, Robotics2–10+ employees
Building the AI co-pilot for manual workers starting with datacenter and energy infrastructure technicians. We give technicians smart-glasses with custom VLMs that automates hours of daily reporting, and can guide any user through any task. Already live with two multi-billion dollar companies.
Founders are: Elior - Harvard/NASA researcher in computer vision and physical AI (NeurIPS, ICCV) Gabriel - MIT Machine Learning, quant researcher in deep learning, quit to found Alcor.
What you will do
- Develop and optimize custom vision-language models (VLMs) and perception systems that process real-time video feeds from smart glasses.
- Build agentic AI frameworks capable of understanding complex manual procedures and delivering step-by-step guidance to technicians in the field.
- Collaborate directly with founders to iterate on core AI architecture and ship production updates to enterprise customers on a weekly basis.
Who this is a fit for
- Former undergraduate or master’s research assistant under top-tier AI professors (e.g., Pieter Abbeel, Lerrel Pinto, or Chris Ré) with a bias toward building.
- Hands-on experience training vision-language models, robotics perception systems, or agentic AI that has been deployed in real environments.
- High-autonomy startup DNA with the ability to define technical roadmaps and solve ambiguous problems without needing a pre-defined spec.
Why this role is remarkable
- Work at the frontier of physical AI with founders from Harvard, NASA, and MIT who have deep experience in CV and ML research.
- Join a well-funded startup already live with two multi-billion-dollar customers, ensuring your research translates directly to real-world industrial impact.
- Receive significant founding-level equity and the opportunity to define the architectural stack of a product category-defining AI co-pilot.
How Jack & Jill work together
I get to know what you’re great at, then find roles you’d never find yourself.Ok, I'll go first. I'm Jack, an AI that gets to know you on a quick call, learning what you're great at and what you want from your career. Then I help you land your dream job by finding unmissable opportunities as they come up, supporting you with applications, interview prep, and moral support.
I recruit from Jack’s network and make the intro when I spot a great match.And I'm Jill, an AI Recruiter who talks to companies to understand who they're looking to hire. Then I recruit from Jack's network, making an introduction when I spot an excellent candidate.
Jack gets to know what you're great at and what you want next, then searches 15 million jobs daily and helps you discover roles at companies like this.
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What happens next?
Jack’s an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.
Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack’s network.
If your profile’s a match and Alcor Labs wants to meet, Jill will make the intro. In the meantime, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.