Research Scientist

Persona • San Francisco, CA

27d • $150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Persona is hiring a Research Scientist to investigate ways to detect fraud and verify identities more accurately. The role focuses on detecting AI-generated and manipulated images, evaluating model performance across populations, and identifying patterns in attacker behavior. The researcher will work with machine learning and engineering teams to convert research findings into defenses and production models, and may publish research.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in at least one of computer vision, mathematics and statistics, or identity verification and fraud prevention.
• For computer vision: research experience in image forensics, face analysis, generative models, or representation learning.
• For mathematics and statistics: a strong foundation in areas such as probability, statistical inference, optimization, or applied mathematics, and experience applying it to empirical research.
• For identity or fraud prevention: experience researching identity verification, biometrics, fraud detection, out-of-distribution detection, adversarial behavior, or closely related security problems.
• A PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related technical field is strongly preferred; candidates with an MS and an exceptional research record will also be considered.
• A demonstrated record of peer-reviewed publications in relevant conferences or journals, with substantive contributions to the research.
• Ability to independently lead research, design rigorous experiments, and use results—including negative or unexpected findings—to guide next steps.
• Clear communication skills, including explaining experimental design, findings, and limitations to technical and non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

• Research on deepfakes, presentation attacks, or adversarial robustness.
• Experience with noisy, imbalanced real-world data.
• Experience shipping machine learning research to production.

Responsibilities

• Lead research on open problems in identity verification and fraud prevention, using focused experiments to test ideas.
• Develop methods to detect manipulated documents, AI-generated images, and emerging fraud attacks.
• Evaluate how reliably models perform across different populations.
• Identify patterns in verification data that reveal fraud, and determine whether they represent genuine signal rather than noise.
• Calibrate model confidence and measure fraud events when labeled data is limited.
• Partner with machine learning and engineering teams to turn research prototypes into production models.
• Publish at venues such as CVPR, NeurIPS, and USENIX Security, and remain active in the research community.

Benefits

• For full-time US-based employees (excluding internship and contractor opportunities): medical, dental, and vision benefits; 3% 401(k) contribution; unlimited PTO; quarterly mental health days; family planning benefits; professional development stipend; wellness benefits.
• For full-time UK employees: private medical insurance; dental insurance; 6% employer pension contribution; unlimited PTO; monthly wellness stipend; professional development stipend; co-working stipend.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree