Director, Applied Machine Learning

Apply; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 250,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

401(k) match

Parental leave

Fertility benefits

Medical, dental, and vision

Mental health support

Learning stipend

Commuting support

Free lunch

Gym in SF office

Flexible PTO

Holidays + 2 flex days

Team outings

Job summary

Apply seeks a Director of Applied ML in San Francisco, hybrid with 3 days in office. You will lead the applied ML function at the intersection of frontier AI research and enterprise delivery, owning post-training environments, scalable post-training infrastructure, and lab partnership strategy.

You will build a team, set technical standards, shape the roadmap as we scale, and maintain direct customer relationships with researchers and partners.

Qualifications

• Experience leading and growing technical teams, ideally with a research background in applied ML or AI.
• Technical depth in applied AI systems design and model post-training (GRPO/PPO, SFT, or similar).
• Experience building and scaling teams or infrastructure in an applied, production environment.
• Excellent client-facing communication skills and the ability to lead cross-functional groups.

Responsibilities

• Lead post-training and RL environment strategy with lab-grounded guidance.
• Build and scale the infra and team for post-training at scale across multiple use cases.
• Own strategic project support across lab engagements within an evolving roadmap.
• Manage and grow a team including AI Engineers, Research Scientists, and AI Forward Deployed Engineers.
• Partner with AI lab researchers and internal stakeholders to translate priorities into clear direction.
• Maintain direct customer relationships, communicating progress and building trust with technical partners.
• Plan ahead while solving today’s problems with current resources.
• Stay current on RL, post-training, and evaluation methods to inform strategy and customer discussions.

Skills

Team leadership

Applied ML

RL environments

Production infrastructure

Lab partnerships

Client-facing communication

Cross-functional leadership

Job description

About the Role

As Director of Applied ML, you'll lead the function that sits at the intersection of frontier AI research and enterprise-scale delivery. You'll own three core pillars: post-training and RL environments, scaled post-training infrastructure, and strategic project support across our lab partnerships. You think like an applied researcher, lead like an operator, and move fluidly between technical depth and client‑facing strategy.

You'll build and grow a team, set the technical standards for how the team engages with frontier labs, and help shape the roadmap as we scale, not just execute against it. This is a rare opportunity to lead at the frontier of gen AI, with direct visibility into where model training is headed before the rest of the world sees it.

Location: San Francisco, CA | Hybrid, 3x a week in office

What you’ll do

• Lead post‑training and RL environment strategy — you don't need to be the deepest technical expert, but your team needs to be able to lean on you for real guidance grounded in lab experience
• Build and scale the infrastructure and team needed to run post‑training at scale across multiple applied use cases
• Own strategic project support across lab engagements — leading your team through a dynamic, evolving roadmap rather than executing the work solo
• Manage and grow a team including AI Engineers, Research Scientists and AI Forward Deployed Engineers, with a path toward managing managers as the org scales
• Partner directly with AI lab researchers and internal stakeholders across engineering and operations, translating ambiguous priorities into clear direction for your team
• Maintain direct customer relationships, following up, communicating progress, and building trust with technical partners
• Bring organizational maturity to a fast‑growing team: solve today's problems with today's resources while planning several steps ahead
• Stay current on the frontier: RL, post‑training, and evaluation methods, bringing relevant insight into both team strategy and customer conversations

What we’re looking for

• Experience leading and growing technical teams, ideally with a research background in applied ML or AI
• Technical depth in applied AI systems design and model post‑training (GRPO/PPO, SFT, or similar) enough to support a research‑leaning team, though you don't need to have trained frontier models yourself
• Experience building and scaling teams or infrastructure in an applied, production environment
• Strong cross‑functional leadership, comfortable working across engineering and operations, and managing shifting timelines with a team in tow
• Excellent client‑facing communication skills — you can translate technical work into business impact and hold your own with both researchers and customers
• Organizational maturity and comfort with ambiguity — you'll need to be creative in solving problems as they arrive

Extra Credit

• Prior lab experience deploying or training agents for applied, real‑world use cases
• Experience managing managers or scaling a team through multiple growth stages
• Familiarity with evaluation frameworks, annotation tooling, or human feedback collection at scale

Perks

• Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
• Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
• Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
• Wellbeing: Medical, dental, and vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend
• Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development
• Office: Commuting support, free lunch, and gym in our SF office
• Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
• Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses