Research Development Lead

College Circle AI is an early-stage AI-powered EdTech company building the Academic Intelligence Layer for colleges.

Our belief is simple:

Curiosity should never die in a classroom.

We are building technology that understands how students learn and helps create a more personalised, intelligent, interactive, and accessible academic experience.

As we move into our next stage of product development, research will become a core part of how we build our technology. We are looking for a Head of Research Co-Builder who can lead this function with both research depth and technical understanding.

The Role

As the Head of Research, you will lead a 5–7 person research team working on the research foundations behind College Circle AI.

The role sits at the intersection of:

Research × AI × Student Behaviour × Personalisation × Product

You will work closely with the CEO, CTO, and product/engineering teams to turn research into systems that can actually be implemented in the product.

This is not purely an academic research role.

We are looking for someone who can understand the research, understand the technology, lead researchers, and help turn findings into working models and product capabilities.

What You Will Lead

1. Personalisation Model

A major area of research will be understanding how individual students learn and how we can use that information to create a more personalised learning experience.

You will help lead research around:

• Student learning patterns
• Academic behaviour
• Learning preferences
• Engagement patterns
• Student interaction with academic content
• Personalisation signals
• Data required for adaptive learning
• Evaluation of personalisation models

The objective is to help build a foundation for a Personalisation Engine that can continuously understand and adapt to students.

2. New-Student Prediction Model

You will also lead research into building a foundation prediction model for new students.

The goal is to explore how we can make useful predictions about a student even when we have limited historical data.

This may involve researching:

• What signals can be collected during onboarding
• Academic and behavioural indicators
• Course and syllabus information
• Student interaction patterns
• Early learning signals
• Feature engineering
• Prediction approaches
• Model evaluation and validation

The research should ultimately help answer:

How can College Circle AI begin understanding a student before it has years of data about them

3. Research Team Leadership

You will lead a 5–7 person research team.

Your responsibility will include:

• Defining research priorities
• Dividing research areas among team members
• Setting research milestones
• Reviewing research output
• Maintaining research documentation
• Coordinating experiments
• Ensuring research quality
• Connecting research findings with product and engineering
• Presenting findings to leadership

You will be responsible for making sure the research team is not simply producing papers or documents, but creating research that can move the company forward.

Technical Understanding

You do not need to be the primary engineer for every model.

However, you should have enough technical understanding to work effectively with our technical team.

Relevant areas may include:

• Machine Learning
• Artificial Intelligence
• Statistics
• Data analysis
• Predictive modelling
• Recommendation systems
• Personalisation systems
• Model evaluation
• Python
• Data processing
• Basic ML/AI architecture
• Research methodology
• Experiment design

Experience with LLMs, embeddings, RAG, recommendation systems, student modelling, behavioural modelling, or adaptive learning would be valuable.

Research → Product

One of the most important responsibilities of this role is connecting research with execution.

We don't want:

Research → Paper → Folder

We want:

Research → Experiment → Model → Product → Student Impact

You will work with the CTO and engineering team to determine which research ideas can actually become part of College Circle AI's products.

Research Grants & Opportunities

College Circle AI intends to explore research grants, academic collaborations, institutional partnerships, and other research funding opportunities.

If research grants or dedicated research funding are secured, an appropriate portion of the allocated research funding may be assigned to support the Head of Research and/or research team, based on the grant terms, role, contribution, and available budget.

This is not a fixed salary position.

The role is primarily structured as an equity-based Co-Builder opportunity, with research-related monetary opportunities potentially arising through successfully secured grants or specifically funded research projects.

Co-Builder Structure

The Head of Research position is intended for someone who wants to build with College Circle AI for the long term.

Minimum expected commitment: 8 months

Potential continuation: Up to 3 years based on mutual alignment and performance.

In recognition of long-term contribution, Co-Builders may become eligible to unlock equity after completing 8 months, with equity opportunities of up to 5%, subject to:

• Individual contribution
• Performance
• Role and responsibility
• Tenure
• Vesting conditions
• Mutual agreement
• Separate formal equity agreement

Equity is not automatic and will be determined through the formal Co-Builder process.

What We Offer

Equity Opportunity

Long-term Co-Builders may be eligible for equity opportunities of up to 5%, subject to formal terms.

Real Research

Work on research that can directly influence an AI-powered learning product used by students.

Research Leadership

Build and lead a 5–7 person research team rather than working only as an individual researcher.

Founder & Technical Collaboration

Work closely with the CEO, CTO, and product/engineering teams.

Learning & Mentorship

Access to learning resources, courses, workshops, mentorship, and practical startup exposure.

Research Funding Opportunities

Opportunity to participate in research projects supported by grants, academic collaborations, and funded research initiatives, where available.

Builder Culture

A collaborative environment where research, experimentation, questioning, and independent thinking are encouraged.

Student & Academic Network

Access to College Circle AI's growing student, campus, and academic ecosystem.

College Circle AI Merchandise & Team Experiences

Team merchandise, meetups, hangouts, and collaborative activities as part of the Co-Builder culture.

Who We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who:

• Can lead a research team
• Understands AI/ML and research methodology
• Can think scientifically and practically
• Is comfortable working with technical teams
• Can translate research into product direction
• Is capable of designing experiments
• Can evaluate models critically
• Has strong analytical thinking
• Can communicate complex research clearly
• Takes ownership
• Wants to build for the long term

Most importantly:

We are looking for a researcher who wants to build something, not just study something.

Why This Role Matters

The long-term intelligence of College Circle AI will depend on how well we understand students.

The research team will help answer some of the most important questions behind the product:

How does a student learn

How can we personalise that learning

How can we understand a new student with limited data

How can an AI system continuously become better at supporting each student

As Head of Research, you will lead the team working towards those answers.

College Circle AI

Building the Future of Academic Intelligence