Human-Computer Interaction Research Scientist, Carbon Neutrality

At Toyota Research Institute (TRI), we’re on a mission to improve the quality of human life. We’re developing new tools and capabilities to amplify the human experience. To lead this transformative shift in mobility, we’ve built a world-class team advancing the state of the art in AI, robotics, driving, and material sciences.

The Team

TRI’s Carbon Neutrality Department within our Human-Centered AI (HCAI) Division blends behavioral science, human-computer interaction research, and machine learning to understand, predict and enable carbon neutral behavior.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a research scientist who has expertise in and enthusiasm for building AI-backed applications that push the boundaries of human-centered science. This work will involve working closely with experts in AI and behavior science to integrate machine learning models into live applications. The researcher should be comfortable iterating prototypes rapidly as they build toward the design and development of robust systems. The researcher should have a broad range of interests spanning social science, psychology, generative AI, user experience, HCI, and design. The researcher should be able to leverage systems they build to support research projects in all of these domains and lead a research project in at least one of them.

Responsibilities:
• Collaborate cross-functionally with specialists in multiple fields, as well as university partners, to research and develop technology that incorporates AI models into the design of interactive systems.
• Develop real-time, full-stack, interactive prototypes across a range of modalities, including in-vehicle, web, and mobile.
• Conduct basic user experience studies (e.g., heuristic evaluations, cognitive walkthroughs, Wizard of Oz, etc.) on their own.
• Work with experts in human behavior to conduct more thorough evaluations of prototypes.
• Adjust prototypes to support research goals and integrate extensive logging features.
• Work with an engineering team to build out robust, scalable versions of their prototypes.
• Support the research goals of others on the team while also advancing their own research agenda.
• Stay up to date on the state-of-the-art in AI models, APIs, integration frameworks, and scalable AI model deployment solutions.
• Collaborate with scientists in the Carbon Neutrality Department to shape our research program and to communicate research to Toyota partners.
• Publish findings in academic journals and/or conferences.
• Contribute to the technology transfer of research throughout Toyota.

Qualifications:
• PhD in Computer Science, HCI/Human Centered Design, Information/Information Management and Systems, or related multidisciplinary fields.
• 3+ years of experience prototyping and deploying applied AI projects.
• Full-stack web programming proficiency (preference for Python or similar on the backend and JS and JS frameworks and libraries on the frontend, but full-stack libraries such as Next.js/Node/React, Django, Flask, FastAPI, Laravel, etc., or also acceptable).
• Familiarity with at least one AI framework (such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, or similar).
• Familiarity with at least one method of mobile prototyping (such as mobile web, iOS, or Android, or a cross-platform framework such as React Native, Flutter, or similar).
• Experience with at least one framework supporting AI model hosting and deployment to live applications (such as AWS Sagemaker/Lambda, Google Cloud Vertex AI, or Azure ML, or similar).
• Familiarity with data storage techniques (such as NoSQL/MongoDB, and/or DynamoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or similar).
• Willingness to learn new frameworks.
• Some experience in human-centered research (e.g. behavioral data science, computational social science, human-computer interaction), including qualitative and/or quantitative methods such as experiments and user studies.
• Broad knowledge of applied machine learning approaches.
• Ability to work collaboratively across subject areas and functions.
• Strong project management skills and a desire to work on challenging, open-ended research projects.
• Demonstrated ability to work autonomously while soliciting feedback.
• Strong interpersonal skills and a great teammate.
• High interest in research to facilitate carbon neutrality.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts clearly across different audiences.

Bonus Qualifications:
• Familiarity with data science toolkits (e.g., Python Pandas, NumPy, etc.).
• Knowledge of methods to support asynchronous requests (such as Celery, Redis, RabbitMQ, Amazon SQS, or similar).
• Experience with fine-tuning approaches (e.g., LoRA).
• Ability to balance multiple projects, including short-term, targeted analyses and novel, innovative projects that may span several years.

The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $152,000 and $228,000/year for California-based roles. Base pay offered will depend on multiple individualized factors, including, but not limited to, business or organizational needs, market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. TRI offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) eligibility, paid time off benefits (including vacation, sick time, and parental leave), and an annual cash bonus structure. Additional details regarding these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

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