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The NYU psychology department is looking to hire a full-time post doctoral associate, start date negotiable but the sooner the better. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

This position will primarily be supervised by Dr. Sydney Levine (https://sites.google.com/site/sydneymlevine) (incoming Assistant Professor, Spring 2026).

This position is ideal for somebody with a strong computational background (e.g. computer science or computationally-intensive cognitive science PhD) who is interested in the intersection of the cognitive science of human moral judgment and AI safety. The research agenda you will be part of over the next year+ will involve building models, running experiments, and testing theories related to how humans make moral judgments and how insights from human moral cognition can be used to develop AI systems that are aligned to the plurality of diverse human values.

In particular, we are asking a series of questions about how “resource-rational contractualism” can help explain the flexibility of moral rules. We are also running large-scale, data collection projects for the purposes of AI alignment and attempting to engineer AI systems that learn and abide by human moral norms. The ultimate goal of our work is to simultaneously study and understand the human moral mind as well as use our unique skills and knowledge to contribute to the building and study of AI systems at an incredibly important time in the history of this technology.

Those with interests or background in philosophy, game theory, mechanism design, cooperative AI, and/or the study and development of language models are particularly encouraged to apply and should highlight this in their application.

This is a one-year term position from the date of hire, with the possibility of extension, contingent upon work performance and continued funding to support the position.

In compliance with NYC’s Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is $62,500-$90,000. New York University considers factors such as (but not limited to) the specific grant funding and the terms of the research grant when extending an offer.

Preferred qualifications:

• PhD in computer science, computationally-intensive cognitive science, or related experience

To apply, please submit a CV, cover letter (explaining your interest in the position and why you think you are a good fit), 1-3 representative publications or works in progress. Questions about the position (including about the residence requirement) can be directed to [email protected].

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