AI Science Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, United States - BCG X

Locations: Boston | Chicago | Pittsburgh | New York | Brooklyn | Miami | Dallas | San Francisco | Seattle | Los Angeles | Manhattan Beach | Washington

Who We Are

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation-inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact.
To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures—and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive.

We Are BCG X

We’re a diverse team of more than 3,000 tech experts united by a drive to make a difference. Working across industries and disciplines, we combine our experience and expertise to tackle the biggest challenges faced by society today. We go beyond what was once thought possible, creating new and innovative solutions to the world’s most complex problems. Leveraging BCG’s global network and partnerships with leading organizations, BCG X provides a stable ecosystem for talent to build game-changing businesses, products, and services from the ground up, all while growing their career. Together, we strive to create solutions that will positively impact the lives of millions.

What You'll Do

About the AISI Fellowship

The Boston Consulting Group’s AI Science Institute (AISI) is launching a postdoctoral fellowship program designed to empower the next generation of applied science leaders. This elite, industry-adjacent program offers PhDs and early-career scientists the opportunity to work on some of the world’s most complex and high-impact scientific problems using cutting-edge AI, in collaboration with top-tier partners across aerospace, healthcare, energy, and materials science.

Fellows will operate at the intersection of foundational research, real-world deployment, and strategic impact, helping shape breakthrough workstreams with AISI partners.

Unlike traditional academic or big-tech postdocs, AISI fellows work on problems where the science, the data, and the deployment context are all partially undefined. Fellows are expected not only to advance models or methods, but to shape problem formulation, data strategy, and downstream impact alongside senior scientists, engineers, and industry leaders.

What You'll Bring

• Lead or contribute to multi-disciplinary research initiatives that apply machine learning, simulation, optimization, or GenAI to real-world scientific domains.
• Collaborate with BCG X teams and external stakeholders, including scientists, engineers, business leaders, to frame and solve complex technical problems.
• Author internal and external research outputs, with opportunities to publish in top journals or co-develop IP with partners.
• Design reproducible, scalable workflows that translate state-of-the-art models into practical tools for discovery and experimentation.
• Serve as a scientific ambassador across AISI projects, bringing rigor, creativity, and a passion for impact.
• Engage directly, as appropriate, with client or partner R&D teams to translate research insights into deployable solutions, with support from senior BCG X leaders.
• Contribute to AISI priority research themes, which may include (illustrative, non-exhaustive):
  • AI-accelerated materials discovery and optimization
  • Scientific foundation models (biology, chemistry, climate, or physical systems)
  • Simulation-augmented learning (e.g., physics-informed ML, RL + simulators)
  • Compute-enabling technologies (chip design, process optimization, algorithm–hardware co-design)
  • Quantum algorithms and hybrid classical–quantum workflows

Who You'll Work With

Program Details

• Duration: 24 months, with possibility of transition into full-time role at BCG X.
• Mentorship: Each fellow will be paired with a senior advisor and a technical/scientific lead from BCG X and a partner institution.
• Resources: Full access to BCG’s infrastructure, compute resources, research datasets, and partner ecosystems.
• Compensation: Competitive salary aligned with industry postdoc benchmarks, plus support for publishing, conference travel, and IP generation. Fellows are encouraged to publish in top-tier venues unless constrained by client confidentiality or strategic IP considerations; in such cases, alternative external-facing research outputs (e.g., methods papers, open-source tools, or delayed publications) will be supported.

What Success Looks Like

By Month 6

• Leading or co-leading a defined AISI research workstream
• Delivering models, methods, or code integrated into an active project
• Establishing a clear publication and/or IP trajectory identified

By Month 12

• Producing at least one external-facing research output, such as a paper, preprint, workshop, or open-source contribution.
• Being recognized internally as a go-to contributor in a priority scientific domain.
• Actively collaborating with at least one external partner or client R&D team.

By Month 24

• Delivering multiple high-quality research outputs and/or patented IP.
• Establishing a clear path to a permanent role at BCG X or strong placement into a top-tier industry or research position.

Additional info

Boston Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under national, provincial, or local law, where applicable, and those with criminal histories will be considered in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws.
BCG is an E - Verify Employer. Click here for more information on E-Verify.