AI Strategist

Unusual; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Research-driven insights

Collaborative team environment

Innovative role development

Job summary

Unusual in San Francisco is seeking a strategic problem-solver to navigate complex business decisions leveraging AI interpretability. This role involves working closely with CMOs and CEOs to translate analyses into actionable business strategies. Candidates should be experienced in stakeholder mapping, and possess strong communication skills with familiarity in AI tools like Claude Code. The company fosters a collaborative environment with a focus on impactful research and innovation.

Qualifications

• Ability to engage with executives and push on strategic decisions.
• Experience in translating analyses into actionable business moves.
• Familiarity with AI platforms and fast learning of new tools.

Responsibilities

• Ramping quickly on client's business and operating model.
• Translating interpretability analyses into strategic moves.
• Operating at the leadership level with clarity.
• Generating analyses and prototyping with internal systems.

Skills

Strategic problem-solving

Stakeholder mapping

First-principles communication

Curiosity

AI-native orientation

Tools

Claude Code

Job description

The Future of Agentic Buying

People are increasingly trusting AI to help them buy things. First AI agents were information aggregators, trusted to search and summarize. Now they're trusted to advise on key decision-making. Increasingly, they're becoming autonomous buyers: agents that shop, evaluate, and transact on behalf of humans.

When AI is the audience, how it perceives your value proposition becomes one of the most consequential things a company can understand about itself.

We apply the principles of AI interpretability research to study how models actually think about companies, and underneath the surface noise we find remarkably stable beliefs, formed from the proof points a company has put into the world (often inadvertently).

Companies starting to take this seriously are realizing something uncomfortable: in an AI‑evaluated market, marketing claims without substance to back them up don’t work anymore. Conversely, companies that deliver on their value proposition have unbounded opportunity to reach and acquire new buyers. AI agents are judging every brand's value promise, and are teaching humans how to do the same.

About Unusual

Unusual is the AI interpretability platform for marketing and GTM teams. We help companies shape how AI models actually think about their brand and value proposition.

Why this role exists

Every company has a unique path to get ready for the rapidly approaching future of agentic buying. When agentic buying arrives for their industry, a company’s ability to thrive will depend on their ability to (1) understand how AI agents evaluate them, (2) enable AI agents to interact with their business, and (3) make the right strategic bets that continually refine their value proposition as perceived by AI.

We build the platform and we apply the methodology directly alongside companies and consultancies. Being at the forefront of the practice of AI brand management, we are committed to learning alongside our partners and sharing what we learn. This role exists to be the trusted voice on the ground with each client; the person who turns the platform and methodology into decisions that move the business.

Who We're Looking For

You're a strategic problem‑solver who wants to work on critical problems. You can hold your own across the table from a CMO, CRO, or CEO, and you can push on the assumptions behind their most consequential decisions. You're already using tools like Claude Code to do your work better, and you want a role where that orientation is the work itself.

You want the leverage that comes from learning and teaching a practice that's category‑defining, with a research team that's done the work to make this approach possible and a platform already producing insights no one else can.

What You'd Own

• Ramping quickly on each client's business and operating model so they want you in the room when strategic GTM decisions are being made
• Translating our interpretability analyses, grounded in each client's business reality, into clear and actionable moves on content, positioning, and proof points
• Operating at the leadership level, bringing the clarity that helps client executives act
• Using Claude Code and our internal platform to generate analyses, prototype features, and contribute back to the systems your teammates rely on

Capabilities We Look For

• Stakeholder mapping. You can read a room, see the dynamics, and figure out how to deliver value in a way that lets every stakeholder win.
• First‑principles communication. You can write a tight brief and walk a CEO through it without losing the room or oversimplifying. You can also write it for a senior IC who'll do the implementation work.
• AI‑native orientation. Claude Code, MCPs, and prototyping with agents are already part of how you work.
• Curiosity, ownership, truth‑seeking, comfort with constructive disagreement, self‑awareness when things get hard.

If you haven't gone deep on Claude Code yet but you're a fast learner who wants to build that fluency, we still want to hear from you. The later stages of the interview process include a collaborative exercise using Claude Code, so spend some time with it ahead of time.

What We Offer

• A research team that’s done the work to make this approach possible, and a platform already producing insights no one else can (we’ll share a confidential walkthrough of current customers and impact generated, post‑NDA)
• A small team of people who care deeply about their craft and about each other
• A front‑row seat to a shift in how every company gets evaluated over the next decade
• The chance to build the playbook for a role that doesn’t fully exist anywhere else yet