Research Assistant (Fixed Term)

The Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI), within the Institute for Technology and Humanity (ITH), is seeking a full-time Research Assistant to contribute to an ongoing two-year project focused on developing a benchmark for measuring the ability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents on real-world data science tasks. The Research Assistant will join the Kinds of Intelligence team at CFI, a multidisciplinary team comprising expertise in Computer Science, AI, cognitive science, and others. The role is fixed term until 30 September 2026.

CFI is a highly interdisciplinary research centre addressing the challenges and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence (AI), in both the short and long term. CFI is based at the University of Cambridge, with partners in Imperial College London, and UC Berkeley, and close links with industry and policymakers. More information is available at: https://www.lcfi.ac.uk/

The Research Assistant's main duty will be managing and coordinating the collaboration with external partners (including companies, non-profits, and other academics) that are providing the tasks that constitute the benchmark; running AI agents built on Large Language Models (LLMs) on the tasks; helping with designing the grading mechanism for the tasks, including building and running LLM judges; analysing results and contributing to writing up papers and reports.

Applicants should have, or about to obtain, a postgraduate degree or an undergraduate degree complemented by relevant experience. The degree should be in a discipline relevant to the project, including (but not limited to) computer science, artificial intelligence, statistics, and data science. We expect the successful candidate to be capable of working independently and in collaboration with others, to be organised and able to navigate large amount of information, and to possess strong programming skills (preferably in Python). Experience working with and evaluating LLMs and professional experience in data science is essential. Some experience in scientific writing is desirable.  All applicants should be able to demonstrate strong motivation in line with the goals of CFI and the desire to improve their research skills.

In order for your application to be considered, please ensure that you upload the following:

• Curriculum Vitae, which should include contact details of two referees.
• Covering letter of no more than 500 words explaining your interest in the position and outlining how you meet the criteria set out in the person specification within the further particulars; in the covering letter, you can optionally include a link to a coding project you carried out and you believe demonstrates your programming ability.

If you would like more information about the role, informal enquiries can be directed by email to Dr Lorenzo Pacchiardi on lp666@cam.ac.uk. If you have questions about the application process, please contact The School's HR Team on sahhr@admin.cam.ac.uk.

The closing date for applications is midnight (GMT) on Sunday 16 November 2025. Interviews are planned for the week commencing 24th of November, subject to change. 

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click on the ‘Apply’ button above.

Please quote reference GO47697 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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