Growth Associate — AfterQuery

davidjoseph-co; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

AfterQuery is seeking a Growth Associate in San Francisco to architect and scale the expert supply engine driving frontier AI training. You will own both manual and automated pipelines to grow the expert network from 100K to hundreds of thousands, working with a high-velocity, cross-functional team.

The role blends technical, operational, and strategic work, emphasizing automation-driven scale, diligence, and initiative in a high-pressure startup environment.

Qualifications

• Background in talent network or outbound sales.
• Experience with automation/tools for sourcing and outreach.
• Proficient in funnel modeling & pipeline analytics.
• High agency and ability to own end-to-end initiatives in a fast-paced startup.
• Comfort with a 6–7 day startup cadence and high-volume execution.
• US-based and no sponsorship required.

Responsibilities

• Build, optimize, and scale automated expert sourcing pipelines.
• Leverage LinkedIn and platforms to recruit professionals from diverse industries.
• Manage multiple recruitment workflows to high-volume output.
• Run experiments on funnel performance and iterate at scale.
• Recruit elite experts into the network and build the automation stack.

Skills

Outbound sales background

Funnel analytics

High agency

Startup cadence

Tools

Clay

Instantly

Apollo

Zapier

Scripting/Scrapers

Job description

AfterQuery — Growth Associate

Type: Full-time | On-site (SF — work policy not explicitly stated) | San Francisco, CACompensation: $100,000–$130,000 base + competitive equity (outreach template also cites a $20–30K bonus)Hiring count: 1Visa sponsorship: None available — US citizen or green card only. No sponsorship, OPT, or CPT.Reports to: Founding team (no named leader / LinkedIn provided on the role page)

About AfterQuery

AfterQuery is a research lab investigating the boundaries and capabilities of AI through novel datasets and experimentation. Its customers are the foundation model labs, and the team serves all of the frontier AI labs. It is backed by top investors including Y Combinator and BoxGroup, ex-partners from Lightspeed and Index Ventures, and senior leadership at Google DeepMind and Meta GenAI. The founding team brings backgrounds from Jane Street, Meta, Citadel Securities, Google, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Silver Lake, BAIR, and SAIL.

Founded: 2025 | Team size: 11–50 | Funding stage: Series A (amount not disclosed)Industry: Frontier AI / AI research (data & experimentation) — Contrario structured tag reads "Consumer Tech," likely a mis-tagWebsite: afterquery.comOffice: San Francisco

Why Candidates Should Join

• Frontier-AI proximity: The customers are the foundation model labs themselves — this role builds the expert-supply engine that powers frontier AI training.
• Founding-team access: Work directly with a founding team out of Jane Street, Meta, Citadel Securities, Google, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Silver Lake, with backing from YC, BoxGroup, and ex-Lightspeed/Index partners plus DeepMind and Meta GenAI leaders.
• Scope and ownership: A high-agency generalist seat owning acquisition end to end, scaling an expert network from 100K into the hundreds of thousands.

Intake Call Summary

• No intake transcript was provided on the role page (an intake video is present but not transcribed). Points below are inferred from the role framing, not a call.
• Sourcing itself is teachable; what's hard to teach — and what they're screening for — is diligence, initiative, and competitive drive.
• The role is deliberately not a typical growth seat: it's technical, operational, and strategic, built around automation-driven scale and high-volume execution.
• Strong hires own things end to end and thrive in high-pressure, fast-paced environments juggling many workstreams.

The Role

AfterQuery is hiring a Growth Associate to architect and scale the expert supply engine powering frontier AI training, owning both manual and automated acquisition pipelines to grow the expert network from 100K to hundreds of thousands and beyond.

What You'll Be Doing

• Build, optimize, and scale automated expert sourcing pipelines
• Leverage LinkedIn and similar platforms to identify and bring on professionals from diverse industries
• Manage concurrent recruiting workflows to deliver high volumes of qualified experts
• Run experiments on funnel performance and iterate on what scales
• Recruit elite experts and operators into the expert network
• Build the automation stack that makes scale possible
• Drive brand amplification across channels

Tech stack: Clay, Instantly, Apollo, Zapier, custom scripts and scrapers; LinkedIn and similar sourcing platforms.

Requirements

• Talent network / marketplace or outbound sales background
• Automation stack: Clay, Instantly, Apollo, Zapier
• Funnel modeling & pipeline analytics
• Elite operational execution at high volume
• High agency, 6–7 day startup cadence
• US-based, no sponsorship required

Green Flags

• Proficiency with automation/GTM tooling such as Clay, Instantly, Apollo, Zapier, scripts, or scrapers
• Passion for frontier AI and ambition to build category-defining systems
• High agency: generalist go-getters who own things end to end and figure things out on their own
• Prior startup growth, sales, ops, or digital-marketing experience
• Prior work experience beyond a new grad (e.g. a couple years plus a master's), with diligence and strong work ethic
• Experience in high-pressure, fast-paced environments juggling many workstreams

Red Flags

• No prior experience outbounding and generating leads
• No evidence of high agency, resourcefulness, or competitive drive
• No prior startup experience
• New grads, especially anyone still without an offer at this point in the cycle
• Big-corporate-internship backgrounds where they were told what to do rather than creating and owning
• Slower-paced big-company backgrounds that struggle to adjust to a demanding startup environment
• An over-trained, siloed pure-expert-network mindset that can't flex beyond sourcing
• Anyone requiring sponsorship, OPT, or CPT

Role Details

• Salary — $100,000–$130,000
• Equity — Competitive equity
• Bonus — $20,000–$30,000 (per outreach template)
• On-site policy — SF-based; in-office likely but not explicitly stated
• Visa sponsorship — None; US citizen or green card only; no sponsorship, OPT, or CPT
• Experience — 1–3 years
• Employment type — Full-time
• Location — San Francisco, CA

Screening Questions

These are the three Required Candidate Q&A items on the Contrario submission form for this role — answer them at submission and confirm on the call.

1. When can you start?
2. Are you legally authorized to work in the country where you are applying?
3. Will you now or in the future require visa sponsorship for employment?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Contrario/company approval of the submitted candidate.Stage 2 — Initial Screen — First screening conversation.Stage 3 — Live Case Study — Live case exercise.Stage 4 — Work Trial (1 day) — One-day paid/working trial.Stage 5 — References — Reference checks.Stage 6 — Offer ExtendedStage 7 — Candidate Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

(Contrario lists stage names only; no durations or detailed descriptions provided.)

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

None provided on the role page.

Ideal Candidate Profiles

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles. Marked "DO NOT CONTACT" on the role page.Giancarlo Pickering — LinkedIn URL not captured in the copied HTMLRudra Bharat — LinkedIn URL not captured in the copied HTML