UX Research Scientist Intern, Multimodal Conversation Analyst (PhD)

Meta Reality Labs Research is seeking a scholar of language and social interaction, or interpersonal communication, to conduct applied empirical research in complex social and relational contexts. The ideal candidate will address contemporary communication challenges—such as facilitating difficult or high-stakes conversations, managing conflict, providing social support, mediation, or negotiating relationships—across personal, professional, and community settings, both online and offline.As part of our world-class team, you will help build meaningful representations of user state and social standing using data from egocentric machine perception, supporting the next generation of contextual AI wearables, VR, and AR devices. You will collect and analyze rich behavioral datasets to advance our understanding of human experience, leveraging both qualitative and quantitative social science methods.We welcome applicants whose research intersects with or complements areas such as interpersonal communication, language and social interaction, health communication, organizational communication, communication and technology, computational social science, media studies, or information science. Your research program should be empirical, theory-driven, and communication-centered.Our internships are twelve (12) to twenty four (24) weeks long and we have various start dates throughout the year. Some projects may require a minimum of 24 consecutive weeks.

UX Research Scientist Intern, Multimodal Conversation Analyst (PhD) Responsibilities:

• Plan and execute cutting-edge research and development to advance the state-of-the-art in machine perception.
• Collaborate with other researchers and engineers across machine perception teams at Meta to develop AI systems.
• Work with the team to help design, setup, and run practical experiments and analyses related to large-scale high quality sensing and machine reasoning for the representation of social and behavioral primitives.
• You’ll own research end-to-end. This means you’ll navigate trade-offs while designing projects, proposing appropriate methodologies, analyzing data, and communicating results to diverse audiences in order to drive impactful decisions.
  
  

Minimum Qualifications:

• Currently pursuing a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Psychology, or a related field with a focus on social interaction or pragmatic language analysis
• Demonstrated experience in computer-assisted analysis of language use, including qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g., conversation analysis, discourse analysis, NLP)
• Proficiency in Python and/or R for data analysis, with experience using relevant libraries (e.g., NLTK, spaCy, pandas, scikit-learn)
• Experience working with specialized datasets, such as: Social interaction recordings (audio/video) Interview transcripts Device telemetry logs Sensor streams (e.g., gaze tracking, gesture recognition, physiological data)
• Familiarity with machine perception models that infer user attention, object handling, and interaction patterns from multimodal data
• Ability to design and implement data collection protocols for behavioral and sensor data
• Must obtain work authorization in the country of employment at the time of hire, and maintain ongoing work authorization during employment
  
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience integrating and analyzing multimodal datasets, including behavioral, linguistic, and device-derived sensor streams
• Experience with self-reported measures of cognitive load, stress, emotional valence, and arousal, and their integration with objective sensor data
• Track record of publishing research in top-tier conferences or journals related to social interaction, language technology, or human behavior analysis
• Experience developing or applying machine learning models to infer social, cognitive, or emotional states from complex, real-world data
• Familiarity with tools and techniques for synchronizing and annotating multimodal data (e.g., ELAN, Praat, custom annotation pipelines)
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams, communicating complex findings to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Intent to return to one’s degree program after completion of the internship
  
  

About Meta:

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. People who choose to build their careers by building with us at Meta help shape a future that will take us beyond what digital connection makes possible today—beyond the constraints of screens, the limits of distance, and even the rules of physics.

Meta is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Meta participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. Please note that Meta may leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in connection with applications for employment.

Meta is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations-ext@fb.com.

$7,650/month to $12,134/month benefits

Individual compensation is determined by skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Compensation details listed in this posting reflect the base hourly rate, monthly rate, or annual salary only, and do not include bonus, equity or sales incentives, if applicable. In addition to base compensation, Meta offers benefits. Learn more about benefits at Meta.