AI Research Assistant

DesignTomorrow is looking for an AI Research Assistant to help us push the boundaries of AI systems and their application to architecture. This role lives at the intersection of pure research and the day-to-day work of a design studio. You will prototype new generative tools, apply state-of-the-art models to live project problems, and run internal experiments that change how our teams design.

You will work alongside our architects, urban designers, and BIM team to identify where AI can meaningfully improve the design process, and then build, test, and deploy the tools to make that happen. The goal is not adoption for its own sake. The goal is tangible improvements in how we design, document, and deliver the built environment.

The role is open in either our Dubai studio or our London studio. Salary will be set based on experience.

• Demonstrable curiosity and depth in modern AI: large language models, generative image and video, multimodal systems, agents. You read papers, you run experiments, you have opinions.
• Solid programming foundation, Python at minimum. Comfortable with the modern AI stack: Anthropic and OpenAI APIs, Hugging Face, PyTorch, vector databases, LangChain or LlamaIndex or similar.
• Strong appetite for understanding architecture as a discipline. You don't need to come from an architectural background, but you should care deeply about the design problem and be willing to learn the domain quickly.
• Ability to scope a research question, run a tight experiment, and report findings honestly, including negative results.
• Excellent written and verbal communication. Able to explain technical concepts to non-technical designers.
• Based in (or willing to relocate to) Dubai or London.

Nice to have:

• A background in architecture, design, or a closely related field.
• Experience with computational design tools (Grasshopper, Rhino, Dynamo, Revit, Forma, Vizcom, etc.).
• Published research, open-source contributions, or significant side projects in AI.
• Experience deploying AI tools in a production or commercial context.
• Familiarity with parametric or generative design, or BIM workflows.

What you'll get:

• Protected research time alongside applied work. A real balance between exploration and shipping.
• A practice that takes design seriously and is committed to using AI to deepen, not replace, the craft.
• Direct collaboration with senior designers, directors, and the wider DT team across both studios.
• Salary commensurate with experience.

• Stay across the latest research and tooling in generative AI, computer vision, multimodal models, agents, and design-specific applications, then translate it into things our teams can actually use.
• Prototype tools and workflows that integrate AI into early-stage design (concept generation, massing, facade studies, urban analysis), documentation (specs, code compliance, briefs), and visualisation (rendering, sketch-to-image, walkthroughs).
• Partner with project teams to identify real bottlenecks and apply AI where it solves a real problem, not where it just looks impressive.
• Run focused research experiments on questions like: how do we use diffusion models for context-aware concept exploration? Where does retrieval-augmented generation actually help on a tender response? When does agentic automation save time versus waste it?
• Contribute to internal tooling. This includes scripts for Grasshopper, Dynamo, and Revit, custom GPTs and Claude projects, evaluation harnesses, and fine-tuned models or RAG systems where appropriate.
• Document findings clearly so the rest of the practice can learn and adopt. Write-ups, internal demos, and training sessions.
• Engage with the broader research community where it makes sense (papers, talks, open-source contributions).