Deal Lead, AI Infrastructure

Compute Exchange; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Compute Exchange is building a deal desk to handle complex, high-value GPU-based transactions end-to-end in a fast-moving market. You will source, structure, negotiate, and close multi-party deals, shaping terms before pricing and execution.

You’ll work with product and engineering to feed learnings back into the platform. You will own the pipeline, forecast, and deal desk playbook, negotiating with CFOs, procurement leaders, and data-center engineers across a private market that rewards

Qualifications

• Proven ability to source, structure, and close complex commercial transactions.
• Deep knowledge of pricing models, terms, and risk management.
• Comfort working with incomplete information and fast-changing prices.
• Strong commercial judgement to pursue high-value deals.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with senior stakeholders.
• Based in San Francisco.

Responsibilities

• Source and originate transactions on both sides — cultivate relationships with GPU owners, neoclouds, data center operators, brokers, and enterprise buyers.
• Structure complex deals: pricing, term length, capacity commitments, deposits and escrow, delivery and acceptance terms, and risk allocation between counterparties.
• Run negotiations to close, coordinating counsel, finance, and technical diligence as needed.
• Qualify and triage inbound demand, deciding what routes to the automated platform and what warrants deal desk involvement.
• Own your pipeline and forecast — maintain accurate deal records, stage hygiene, and reporting in CRM.
• Build the deal desk operating system: templates, term libraries, approval thresholds, margin guidelines, and repeatable process.
• Serve as the market-facing voice back into the company, translating recurring deal patterns into platform and product requirements.
• Represent Compute Exchange with counterparties, at industry events, and in the broader AI infrastructure community.

Skills

Deal sourcing

Deal structuring

Closing complex deals

Pricing models

Commercial terms

Credit risk understanding

Counterparty risk

Stakeholder communication

Autonomy

Tools

CRM

Job description

Company: Compute Exchange
Location: San Francisco, CA — onsite/hybrid
Reports to: CEO
Employment type: Full-time

About Compute Exchange

Compute Exchange is a marketplace for AI compute. We connect buyers who need GPU capacity — hardware purchases, cluster rentals, reserved and on-demand supply — with the operators, resellers, and data center providers who have it. Our automated RFQ platform turns what has historically been an opaque, relationship-gated market into something transparent, competitive, and fast.

The market is moving quickly, and so are we. Demand on both sides of the exchange continues to outpace our capacity to serve it.

The Role

Not every deal fits in a form field. Alongside our self-serve RFQ flow, we're building out a deal desk for the transactions that require a human: multi-party structures, large reserved commitments, non-standard terms, distressed or time-sensitive supply, and buyers with requirements that need to be shaped before they can be priced.

You will own those deals end to end — sourcing, structuring, negotiating, and closing. This is a builder's seat as much as a closing seat: you'll set the playbook for how complex transactions move through Compute Exchange, and work directly with product and engineering to push what you learn back into the platform.

What You'll Do

• Source and originate transactions on both sides of the exchange — cultivate relationships with GPU owners, neoclouds, data center operators, brokers, and enterprise and AI-lab buyers.
• Structure complex deals: pricing, term length, capacity commitments, prepayment and payment mechanics, deposits and escrow, delivery and acceptance terms, and risk allocation between counterparties.
• Run negotiations to close, coordinating counsel, finance, and technical diligence as needed.
• Qualify and triage inbound demand, deciding what routes to the automated platform and what warrants deal desk involvement.
• Own your pipeline and forecast — maintain accurate deal records, stage hygiene, and reporting in our CRM.
• Build the deal desk operating system: templates, term libraries, approval thresholds, margin guidelines, and repeatable process.
• Serve as the market-facing voice back into the company, translating recurring deal patterns into platform and product requirements.
• Represent Compute Exchange with counterparties, at industry events, and in the broader AI infrastructure community.

What You Bring

• A track record of personally sourcing, structuring, and closing complex commercial transactions — and a deal sheet you're proud of.
• Fluency in deal mechanics: pricing models, commercial terms, credit and counterparty risk, and how to get to a structure both sides will actually sign.
• Comfort operating in a market with imperfect information, fast-moving prices, and counterparties on both sides of the table.
• Strong commercial judgment about which deals are worth your time and which are not.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; you can hold a credible conversation with a CFO, a procurement lead, and a data center engineer in the same afternoon.
• High autonomy and low ego — this is an early team, and the work includes both the seven-figure negotiation and the spreadsheet behind it.
• Based in San Francisco.

Helpful, Not Required

• Direct experience with GPUs, data centers, cloud/compute procurement, or AI infrastructure.
• Background in commodities, energy, capital markets, hardware distribution, or another market where you brokered scarce, price-volatile supply.
• Experience standing up a deal desk, revenue operations function, or commercial playbook from scratch.
• Familiarity with marketplace or two-sided business dynamics.

Why This Role

• Real deal flow from day one.
• A market being built in real time.
• Direct impact and visibility.
• Upside.

Compute Exchange is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.