Director, Forward Deployed Researcher - Data as a Service

Snorkel AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 228,800 - 403,200; Full time

Job summary

Snorkel AI is hiring a Director, Forward Deployed Researcher on the Data-as-a-service team. You will lead a team that partners with frontier AI labs on data problems, scoping training data needs, designing RL environments, and creating evaluation frameworks to translate customer goals into actionable technical plans.

This is a player‑coach role: half leadership, half hands-on work on strategic accounts. You set the technical bar for specifications and playbooks, collaborating with AE management

Qualifications

• 8+ years in applied ML, AI solutions engineering, presales, or research-facing roles.
• 5+ years leading technical ICs, ideally in a presales or SE org.
• Deep knowledge of frontier AI concepts including LLMs, data pipelines, eval methods, RLHF/DPO/RLAIF.
• Proven hiring and talent development experience.
• Experience driving revenue or pipeline goals in a GTM setting.
• Excellent communication; able to coach teams and engage frontier AI researchers.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment.
• BS in CS, ML, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Recruit, hire, and develop the forward deployed research team with focus on technical quality.
• Set and maintain the technical bar for specs, evaluation frameworks, and customer deliverables.
• Own SE capacity planning and account coverage; partner with AE on deal strategy and pipeline forecasting.
• Establish team processes and playbooks for discovery, spec development, and knowledge sharing.
• Lead technical conversations on strategic accounts, including scoping and solution design.
• Serve as escalation point for technically complex customer situations.

Skills

Applied ML & AI solutions

Presales

Team leadership

Frontier AI

Communication

Ambiguity tolerance

Fast-moving environment

BS in CS/ML

Education

B.S. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field

Job description

About Snorkel

At Snorkel, we believe meaningful AI doesn’t start with the model, it starts with the data.

We’re on a mission to help enterprises transform expert knowledge into specialized AI at scale. The AI landscape has gone through incredible changes since 2015, when Snorkel started as a research project in the Stanford AI Lab, to the generative AI breakthroughs of today. But one thing has remained constant: the data you use to build AI is the key to achieving differentiation, high performance, and production‑ready systems. We work with some of the world’s largest organizations to empower scientists, engineers, financial experts, product creators, journalists, and more to build custom AI with their data faster than ever before. Excited to help us redefine how AI is built? Apply to be the newest Snorkeler!

About The Role

Snorkel AI is hiring a Director, Forward Deployed Researcher on the Data-as-a-service team. Your team will partner directly with frontier AI labs on their hardest data problems: scoping training data needs, designing RL environments, developing evaluation frameworks, and translating customer research objectives into actionable technical plans.

This is a player‑coach role. Roughly half your time goes to people leadership (hiring, coaching, developing your team) and the other half to hands‑on technical work on strategic accounts. You set the technical bar for spec quality and build the playbooks and processes that let the team scale. You influence how the function operates, from process and standards to team culture.

You partner closely with AE leadership on pipeline strategy, account coverage, and SE allocation. You also work cross‑functionally with Delivery, Research, and Engineering to ensure smooth handoffs. The right person for this role can hold their own with frontier AI researchers, has strong presales instincts, and wants to build a team.

Main Responsibilities

• Recruit, hire, and develop the forward deployed research team, coaching the team on technical quality, customer engagement, and career growth
• Set and maintain the technical bar for specifications, evaluation frameworks, and customer deliverables
• Own SE capacity planning and account coverage; partner with AE leadership on deal strategy, engagement prioritization, and pipeline forecasting
• Establish team processes and playbooks for discovery, spec development, and knowledge sharing
• Lead technical conversations on select strategic accounts, including scoping, solution design, and partnership with frontier AI research teams
• Serve as escalation point for technically complex or high‑stakes customer situations

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in applied ML, AI solutions engineering, technical presales, or research‑intensive customer‑facing roles
• 5+ years managing or leading technical individual contributors, ideally in a presales or solutions engineering org
• Strong expertise in frontier AI concepts including LLMs, training data pipelines, evaluation methodologies, post‑training techniques (RLHF, DPO, RLAIF), and domain areas such as coding agents, reasoning, multimodal models, or RL environments
• Track record of hiring and developing technical talent
• Experience operating against revenue or pipeline goals in a GTM organization
• Excellent communication skills, able to coach a team, partner with sales leadership, and engage credibly with frontier AI researchers
• Ability to work in a fast‑moving environment, comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration
• B.S. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field

Be Your Best at Snorkel

Joining Snorkel AI means becoming part of a company that has market proven solutions, robust funding, and is scaling rapidly — offering a unique combination of stability and the excitement of high growth. As a member of our team, you'll have meaningful opportunities to shape priorities and initiatives, influence key strategic decisions, and directly impact our ongoing success. Whether you're looking to deepen your technical expertise, explore leadership opportunities, or learn new skills across multiple functions, you're fully supported in building your career in an environment designed for growth, learning, and shared success.

Snorkel AI is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and is committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Snorkel AI embraces diversity and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Snorkel AI prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, performance, merit, and business need.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

The base salary range for this position is $228,800–$403,200, depending on location, experience, and qualifications. This role is also eligible for variable compensation.

Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location.

Salary range(s) for this role

$228,000—$403,200 USD

Be Your Best at Snorkel

Joining Snorkel AI means becoming part of a company that has market proven solutions, robust funding, and is scaling rapidly—offering a unique combination of stability and the excitement of high growth. As a member of our team, you’ll have meaningful opportunities to shape priorities and initiatives, influence key strategic decisions, and directly impact our ongoing success. Whether you’re looking to deepen your technical expertise, explore leadership opportunities, or learn new skills across multiple functions, you’re fully supported in building your career in an environment designed for growth, learning and shared success.

Snorkel AI is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and is committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Snorkel AI embraces diversity and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Snorkel AI prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, performance, merit, and business need.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact you to obtain accommodation.