Research Scientist

About our team

We help people and organizations understand readiness. For performance-driven teams, readiness affects both health and results. In mission-critical work, it can be the difference between life and death.

Sanora, Okaya's AI guide, holds a real conversation with each person. You'll work hand in hand with experts, designers and engineers to build a product that feels human.

What you'll build

Your work will shape how our customers understand readiness, and how people take care of themselves at work and at home.

• Evidence-based assessment models: develop AI models that turn voice, words and expression (points from the face, never a video) into readiness insights grounded in established psychological research. Research, design and build new approaches that go beyond self-report questionnaires.
• Translational AI systems: connect scientific research and real use, with models that read complex behavioral signals in real-world settings.
• Study design: plan and run studies that test how well new assessment approaches work.

Skills you'll need

• Relevant research experience: a PhD in Psychology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Affective Computing or a related field, with research on new assessment approaches. Your publications should show work where psychology and technology meet.
• Research leadership: you have led research from hypothesis to publication, including study design, data collection protocols and ethical review.
• Scientific rigor and statistics: you can read clinical research papers and apply their findings with the right statistical methods, and you have designed studies for similar technologies.
• From research to code: you have designed assessment methods that can be built as algorithms, and you're comfortable moving between the literature and the implementation. You don't need to be an engineer, but you'll prototype your ideas with little help, using tools such as Python, PyTorch, Hugging Face, DeepSpeed and TensorBoard.

Day to day

• Lead research that tests and improves our assessment methods.
• Work with our clinical advisors and the literature to turn psychological methods into computational prototypes.
• Present and publish findings.
• Work across time zones (we're global) to review new research, check model behavior and refine our approach.
• Write clear documentation and give presentations that connect the AI details with real-world use.

Why you'll like it here

• Publishing: we encourage and support publishing in academic journals and presenting at conferences.
• Ownership: you'll shape our research roadmap, from the needs you find to the solutions you build.
• Range: research, AI development and product thinking, every day.
• Flexibility: remote work with flexible hours.
• Pay: equity and market-competitive pay in a small startup where your voice matters.
• Culture: we value self-care, flexibility and the freedom to experiment.

What we offer

• Competitive salary and equity
• Fully remote culture with flexible hours
• Budget for conferences and events
• Quarterly team offsites
• A mission-driven team