AfterQuery — Strategic Projects Lead - Coding

davidjoseph-co; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

On-site work in San Francisco

Job summary

AfterQuery is seeking a Strategic Projects Lead - Coding in San Francisco. This founding-level role blends technical execution with strategic leadership, owning high-impact initiatives end-to-end and shipping production code when necessary.

You'll mentor engineers, data scientists, and ML specialists, design data pipelines and tooling, and collaborate directly with research teams at frontier AI labs to meet ambitious contract needs.

Qualifications

• CS degree, engineering experience, or equivalent ability to ship technical projects.
• Proven ability to manage teams of engineers, data scientists, ML specialists.
• Experience building infrastructure for dataset generation and delivery pipelines.
• Strong Python and production-grade coding skills.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical initiatives: scope, build, deliver, and ship code when needed.
• Design and build infrastructure and tooling for dataset generation and delivery pipelines.
• Lead and mentor software engineers, data scientists, and ML specialists.
• Collaborate with research teams at top AI labs to translate needs into specs.
• Debug production issues quickly and balance hands-on coding with leadership.
• Support the founding team on tooling, major contracts, or hiring.

Skills

Python

Production-quality code

Data pipelines

APIs

ML/AI tooling

Education

CS degree or engineering degree

Undergraduate degree from the US/Canada/UK

Tools

APIs

ML tooling

Job description

AfterQuery — Strategic Projects Lead - Coding

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CACompensation: $130,000–$150,000 base (up to $300K total cash comp) + competitive equityHiring count: 4Visa sponsorship: None availableReports to: Founding team (specific manager not stated)

About AfterQuery

AfterQuery builds the training data and evaluation infrastructure that frontier AI labs use to improve their models, working with all five of the world's leading AI labs to design high-signal datasets and run rigorous evaluations that go beyond static benchmarks. One of the fastest-growing companies in its YC batch, backed by Y Combinator, BoxGroup, Lightspeed, Warburg Pincus, Silver Lake, and Index Ventures, with $30M raised at a $300M valuation.

Founded: 2025 | Team size: 11–50 | Total funding: $30M (at $300M valuation)Industry: AI training data & model evaluation infrastructureWebsite: https://afterquery.com Office: San Francisco, CA

Why Candidates Should Join

• Direct founder access: Work directly with the founding team on their highest-priority, most ambiguous problems.
• Frontier lab exposure: Interface with research leads at the top AI labs; your work powers $10M+ contracts.
• Upside: Up to $300K total cash comp plus meaningful equity in a fast-scaling, venture-backed company.

Intake Call Summary

• No separate intake call summary was present on the role page (intake video not transcribed here). If an intake transcript is available, add its key points here.

The Role

A founding-level role at the intersection of technical execution and strategic leadership — owning high-impact initiatives end-to-end while managing technical experts and shipping production code yourself.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own end-to-end technical initiatives: scoping requirements, building solutions, managing experts through delivery, and shipping code yourself when it unblocks the team.
• Design and build technical infrastructure and tooling for dataset generation, quality control, and delivery pipelines supporting multiple concurrent frontier lab contracts.
• Manage and mentor teams of software engineers, data scientists, and ML specialists on high-priority campaigns; set technical direction and hold the bar for execution velocity.
• Interface directly with research teams at leading AI labs to understand their needs, translate them into technical specs, and ensure delivery meets their standards.
• Debug production issues live under pressure; rapidly context-switch between hands‑on engineering, team leadership, and strategic problem‑solving.
• Support the founding team on whatever moves the needle most — internal tooling, closing technical details on major contracts, or hiring the next engineers.

Tech stack: Python; data pipelines, APIs, ML/AI tooling

Requirements

• CS degree, engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated ability to ship technical projects
• Manage teams of technical experts across software engineering, data science, and machine learning
• Build technical infrastructure and tooling for dataset generation, quality control, and delivery pipelines
• Drive technical and operational initiatives end-to-end: scoping requirements, building solutions, and managing technical experts
• Interface directly with engineering and research teams at leading AI labs
• Support founding team on high-priority technical projects and operational initiatives
• Proficiency in Python and production-quality code
• Experience with data pipelines, APIs, or ML/AI tooling
• Strong leadership experience and communication skills
• Ability to context-switch rapidly between technical and strategic work
• Intense work ethic, agency, and drive
• Competitive nature and track record of exceptional achievement
• Undergraduate degree from the U.S., Canada, or the U.K.

Green Flags

• Background in software engineering, ML engineering, AI research, or computer science
• Experience at top tech company (FAANG, frontier AI lab) or quantitative trading firm
• Prior startup experience or founding experience
• Willingness to work long hours and weekends when projects demand it

Red Flags

• Worked cushy tech jobs (FAANG PM, etc.) and may not be used to intense work environments.
• Struggles with ambiguity or lacks examples of owning large, complex projects.
• Only interested in remote work — role is strictly in-person.
• Can't articulate why they want to pivot into AI ops or join a startup now.
• No experience managing teams or unclear on motivating people toward execution.

Role Details

Salary$130,000–$150,000 base (up to $300K total cash comp)EquityCompetitive / meaningful equityOn-site policyOn-site, San Francisco — strictly in-personVisa sponsorshipNone availableEmployment typeFull-timeExperience0–5 yearsLocationSan Francisco, CA

Screening Questions

No separate call-screening questions appear on the role page. The Contrario submission form requires the following Required Candidate Q&A:

1. LinkedIn Profile
2. Are you legally authorized to work in the country where you are applying?
3. Will you now or in the future require visa sponsorship for employment?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval Stage 2 — Initial Screen Stage 3 — SPL/SPA Behavioral Round Stage 4 — Live Case Study Stage 5 — Work Trial Stage 6 — References Stage 7 — Offer Stage 8 — Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

Scale AI, Surge, Mercor, micro1

Ideal Candidate Profiles

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles (Contrario labels this list "DO NOT CONTACT").

• Yu Huang
• Andrew Y.
• Sam Jacob
• Agustin G.
• Tiana Costello