AI Ethics Researcher
Impact: Societal understanding and corporate practice around ethical AI development and deployment
Conduct academic and applied research on the ethical implications of AI systems. Investigate questions of fairness, accountability, transparency, and societal impact. Produce research that informs policy, corporate practice, and public understanding of AI ethics.
What the day looks like
- People interaction
- Moderate
- Team vs solo
- 45% Team / 55% Solo
- Client facing
- Sometimes
- Impact visibility
- High
- Travel
- 10 to 20% for conferences
- Schedule flexibility
- Flexible
- Remote work
- Mostly Remote
- Typical work hours
- 40 to 55 hours/week
- Stress level
- Moderate
At a glance
- Median salary
- $130,000
- Entry-level
- $80,000 - $110,000
- Senior
- $185,000+
- Growth by 2033
- 30% (much faster than average)
- Demand
- Growing Fast
- Freelance potential
- Low
- Salary growth potential
- High - 65 to 80% growth from entry to senior
- Typical student debt
- $0 - $30,000
Skills you'll use
Hard skills
- Research methodology
- Academic writing
- Qualitative analysis
- Policy analysis
- Stakeholder engagement
Soft skills
- Intellectual curiosity
- Analytical thinking
- Ethical reasoning
- Communication
- Research skills
Technical complexity: Moderate
How to get there
- Minimum education
- Doctoral or Professional Degree
- Licensing
- No
- Years to mid-career
- 4 to 6 years
- Years to senior
- 8 to 12 years
- Career switching
- Hard
Where this career leads
How people arrive here
Where you can go from here
Typical progression
- Research Assistant > AI Ethics Researcher > Senior AI Ethics Researcher > Principal Researcher > Head of AI Ethics
Future outlook
- Automation probability
- 8% extremely low risk as ethical reasoning requires human values
- AI disruption risk
- Very Low
- Demand trend
- Growing Fast
How people feel about it
- Overall satisfaction
- 8.3/10
- Meaning
- 9.2/10
- Work-life balance
- 7/10
- Prestige
- 8.2/10
- Social perception
- Very High