Fireside Chat with Aleksandra Faust: Director of Research at Google DeepMind, 02/06/2026

We hosted a webinar on February 6, 2026, on a beautiful Friday in LA. W want to thank the 200 of you who joined us to discuss the transition from PhD research to industry leadership. Before we dive into the key takeaways, I want to highlight the remarkable journey of our guest, Aleksandra, who recently rejoined Google as a Director of Research Scientist focusing on AI agents for health.

Her career is a story of profound growth: after completing her undergraduate studies in Serbia during the 90s, she immigrated to the U.S., earned her PhD with distinction, and built a distinguished career. With over a decade of experience at Waymo and Google Brain, and having led AI efforts at Genesis Molecular AI, Aleksandra has actively shaped the evolution of the field.

An IEEE Fellow and recipient of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Career Award, she has earned multiple Best Paper awards at top-tier venues including ICRA and ICML. Her groundbreaking work has been recognized globally, with features in The New York Times, The Economist, and Forbes.

8 Essential Strategies for the PhD to Industry Transition

1. Shift from an Individual Sport to a Team Sport

While a PhD is fundamentally a solo training exercise , industry success requires a "team sport" mindset to build at scale. You must identify your specific niche and collaborate with those whose strengths, such as writing or data analysis, complement your own.

2. Build Your "Personal Board of Directors"

Networking is not just about meeting people; it is about being strategic regarding who is in your sphere of interest. You should aim to maintain a group of 5 to 10 people you stay in regular touch with by sending them updates every three to six months. This "board" acts as a vital support system for navigating career turbulence and identifying new opportunities.

3. Distinguish Between Mentors and Sponsors

While mentors help you learn specific technical or professional skills, sponsors are senior leaders who advocate for you behind closed doors. Sponsors are the ones who nominate you for jobs or high-profile projects when you aren't in the room. You can identify potential sponsors by looking for leaders whose junior team members are consistently progressing and becoming stars.

4. Offer Value Before Asking for Help

To build a relationship with a high-level sponsor, do not simply ask for a favor; instead, offer your time to help them with their initiatives. Reach out to people whose work you admire and ask if there is a specific project where you can be useful. By providing value first, you naturally earn their trust and advocacy.

5. Define Your Unique "Point of View" (POV)

The industry moves too fast to keep up with every single paper or tool. To stay competitive, you must develop a unique "angle of attack" or perspective on research blockers. Having a strong POV along with the conviction to follow it, while remaining agile enough to pivot when data proves you wrong, is what defines a leader in the field.

6. Master the Efficiency-Safety-Resilience Triangle

In academia, research often focuses primarily on performance or accuracy. In industry, the "standard blockers" are often cost, efficiency, and safety. Impactful researchers look beyond the benchmark to consider how expensive the data is, how toxic or safe the output is, and how resilient the system is in the real world.

7. Prioritize Quality Collaborators Over "Sexy" Problems

It is often easier to find an interesting technical problem than it is to find high-quality collaborators. Because research involves high uncertainty and stress, you should prioritize working with a "flock" of people you trust. These trusty connections often stay together even as projects and companies change.

8. Adopt the "Servant Leadership" Model

As you transition into management, your role shifts from doing the work to enabling the team. Effective leaders "automate themselves" out of day-to-day experimental runs so they can focus on clearing the path for their team, securing resources, and identifying the next big "holes" to fill. Your success is measured by the growth of the people you lead.

What’s Next?

We want to give a massive thank you to Aleksandra for sharing her humbling story and her sharp insights on leadership with us.

If you found this helpful, we have more coming:

• Next Webinar: Join us in two weeks for a session with Michael Ryoo (co-author of RT-1 and RT-2) to discuss motion world models for robot control: https://luma.com/rora-robotics-talk-2026

• Personalized Growth: If you have individual questions about networking or navigating your own AI career, feel free to reach out to Rora for a free consultation.

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