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Founding leadership

Head of AI Research

Reasoning & Foundation Models

C-Level Full-Time On-site — Kolkata, West Bengal, India Permanent

Compensation

up to ₹120 LPA

Engagement

Full-Time

Permanent role. Full-time commitment. This is an on-site role at Kolkata. It is not remote and not hybrid.

Scope of role

Build the function from zero. Set the strategy. Own the outcome.

01 — The role

Why this role exists at EduRankAI

EduRankAI is a frontier AI research lab building reasoning systems and foundational models from the ground up — not fine-tuning what already exists, but training new architectures that learn the way the most curious humans do. We are hiring researchers, research engineers, and research scientists who want to work on real problems in reasoning, alignment, evaluation, and learning dynamics. This is research-led work — publications, internal papers, and reproducible experiments are part of the job. Selection here is genuinely competitive. The application fee reflects that — every shortlisted candidate gets a personal review by the research team. About this role: Head of AI Research — up to ₹120 LPA + equity. Full-Time, 8 hours per day. Part-time options are available — see the Career page for details. For any queries, reach out to us at hr@edurankai.in.

02 — The work

What you will own

  • 01 Own outcomes, not tasks
  • 02 Communicate clearly in writing
  • 03 Operate with low-ego, high-context judgement

03 — The expertise

What we look for

Clarity of thinkingReliable follow-throughComfort with ambiguity

04 — The bar

Who thrives here

  • Open to candidates across India
  • Remote or Bengaluru / NCR by mutual agreement

Terms of Engagement

How working time works at this level

No fixed daily or weekly hours. The office carries accountability for its remit, the availability that remit requires, and at least one full day of rest each week that you are expected to actually take.

Type

C-Level

Rest days

1 per week

Hours counted

No

Basis

Outcome and accountability

Measured by

The remit of the office, reviewed on the cycle agreed with the founder and the board. There is no attendance component and no hour count.

Where this stands legally

A role of this kind occupies a position of management. The working-hours provisions of the state Shops and Establishments Acts do not apply to persons in positions of management or in a confidential capacity, and under the labour codes such a role sits outside the definition of a worker. Stating a fixed hour count here would be neither accurate nor enforceable.

The full per-level model is published at Working Hours by Level.

05 — Hiring process

What to expect after you apply

  1. 01

    Application review

    Every application is read personally within five business days. We respond either way.

  2. 02

    Take-home or live exercise

    Role-specific. Time-boxed. Real problems we are actually working on, not invented puzzles.

  3. 03

    Conversations

    Deep technical and values conversations with the team you would join. No trick questions. No panel ambushes.

  4. 04

    Offer or honest no

    If yes: digital offer letter, signed in-portal, transparent terms. If no: written feedback if you want it.

Before you start

What we will collect. What it costs. What we will not do with it.

We will collect

  • Name, email, phone — Account + application updates. No marketing.
  • Resume / portfolio link — Human review of your work.
  • Date + place of birth — Identity verification only.
  • Your written responses — Selection rubric. Read by humans.
  • Government ID (later) — Anti-fraud at offer / interview stage. Not at signup.

We will never

  • Sell your data
  • Share with third-party recruiters
  • Use for advertising
  • Train models on it
  • Send marketing email

Our situation

EduRankAI is a small, independent organization building long-term capabilities in educational intelligence, advanced AI systems, and research infrastructure. We take no advertiser money, no donations with strings attached, and no investor pressure on hiring decisions. Applying is free, and every application is read by a human — recruitment, technical, academic and leadership teams. It buys us the right to be honest.

Full transparency policy Questions? Email us

Ready to apply?

We read every application personally. If you are the right person for this role — regardless of pedigree, background, or where you are based — you will hear back from us within five business days.

C-Level Full-Time

Head of AI Research

Apply →