Founding AI Research Lead

DoorDash, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 330,000; Full time

Job summary

DoorDash is building an AI Research organization from the ground up and is hiring founding researchers who will define the team’s research agenda and culture. You will influence hiring, infrastructure choices, and how research connects to product and operations at scale.

You'll lead end-to-end research projects, collaborate with ML platforms, and have autonomy to shape publication and deployment strategies while partnering with product teams to translate research into real-world impact.

Qualifications

• A strong research track record: first-author publications at top ML venues, or equivalent demonstrated output (widely-used systems, influential open-source work, or research artifacts adopted at scale)

Responsibilities

• Set the research agenda for one or more areas of DoorDash AI Research, in close collaboration with the founding team and leadership
• Lead high-impact research projects end-to-end — from problem framing through publication and, where appropriate, production deployment
• Help build the team — interview, recruit, and mentor researchers, engineers, and fellows joining the org
• Shape the org's culture and operating model — how we publish, how we collaborate with product teams, how we balance open research with proprietary work
• Partner across DoorDash with ML platform, product, and operations teams to identify the highest-leverage research bets and translate findings into real-world impact

Job description

DoorDash is building an AI Research organization from the ground up and is hiring founding researchers who will define the team’s research agenda and culture. You will influence hiring, infrastructure choices, and how research connects to product and operations at scale.

You'll lead end-to-end research projects, collaborate with ML platforms, and have autonomy to shape publication and deployment strategies while partnering with product teams to translate research into real-world impact.