Biological Safety Research Scientist

Details

Anthropic’s mission is to create reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. The Safeguards Biological Safety Research Scientist role applies biological domain expertise to design and develop safety and oversight mechanisms for AI systems, detecting harmful behaviours and preventing misuse by sophisticated threat actors. The role sits at the intersection of biology, policy, and engineering and focuses on translating biosecurity concepts into concrete technical safeguards.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute capability evaluations ("evals") to assess the capabilities of new models
• Collaborate with internal and external threat-modeling experts to develop training data for safety systems
• Work with ML engineers to train safety systems, optimizing for robustness against adversarial attacks and low false-positive rates for legitimate researchers
• Analyze safety system performance in traffic, identify gaps, and propose improvements
• Develop rigorous stress-testing of safeguards across evolving threats and product surfaces
• Partner with Research, Product, and Policy teams to embed biological safety throughout the model development lifecycle
• Contribute to external communications, including model cards, blog posts, and policy documents related to biological safety
• Monitor emerging technologies for potential new risks and mitigation strategies

Requirements

• PhD in molecular biology, virology, microbiology, biochemistry, systems or computational biology, or a related life sciences field, OR equivalent professional experience
• Extensive experience in scientific computing and data analysis, with proficiency in programming (Python preferred)
• Deep expertise in modern biology, including both "reading" (e.g., high-throughput measurement, functional assays) and "writing" (gene synthesis, genome editing, strain construction, protein engineering) techniques
• Familiarity with dual-use research concerns, select agent regulations, and biosecurity frameworks (e.g., Biological Weapons Convention, Australia Group guidelines)
• Strong analytical and writing skills; ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Ability to learn new skills rapidly and adapt to shifting priorities in a fast-paced environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in AI/ML systems, particularly experience with large language models
• Experience developing ML for biological systems
• Experience managing complex projects with multiple stakeholders

Compensation

• Annual salary: $300,000 - $320,000 USD

Logistics

• Locations: San Francisco, CA and New York City, NY
• Education requirements: At least a Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent experience (PhD or equivalent preferred/required per role description)
• Location-based hybrid policy: staff expected to be in one of the offices at least 25% of the time
• Visa sponsorship: The company states they sponsor visas and retain an immigration lawyer to assist (not guaranteed for every role/candidate)

Benefits

• Competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation and parental leave, flexible working hours, and office space to collaborate

Other

• The role involves external communications and policy-facing work; candidates are encouraged to apply even if they do not meet every qualification listed.