Head of AI (a16z)

Sourcerer; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Top-of-market compensation

Founding-level equity

Direct participation in major decisions

Job summary

Sourcerer, located in San Francisco, is seeking a Head of AI to lead its autonomous procurement platform's AI initiatives. This role includes ownership of the entire AI roadmap without committees, developing an API-driven supplier underwriting engine, and executing workflows autonomously. You will shape the future AI team and directly influence significant technical and strategic decisions.

The ideal candidate has experience with production-level LLM systems, thrives in ambiguous environments, and understands supply chain automation.

Qualifications

• Experience in shipping production-level LLM or autonomous agent systems.
• Depth of knowledge in AI with strong instincts in product development.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity without predefined specs.

Responsibilities

• Own the entire AI roadmap including architecture and modeling strategy.
• Develop and manage the supplier underwriting engine.
• Lead agentic execution workflows autonomously.
• Build and manage the future AI team.

Skills

Production LLM or agent systems development

Research-grade depth with product-grade instincts

Problem-solving in ambiguous situations

Understanding of supply chain automation

Job description

Sourcerer is the autonomous procurement platform. Our AI agents discover suppliers across the globe underwrite them with proprietary data, negotiate terms, and execute transactions end-to-end — the work of an entire global procurement organization, done by software. Some of the largest distributors and retailers in America already trust us to move real goods and real money through our platform, and demand is compounding every month.

We're backed by a16z Speedrun, Madrona, Jason Calacanis, and an angels from top labs like OpenAI. We're a small, in-person team in San Francisco, and we're hiring people who want to build the company-defining systems — not maintain someone else's.

Head of AI

This is the rare role where the AI is the company

Most "Head of AI" jobs mean sprinkling a copilot onto an existing product. Not here. At Sourcerer, the agent is the product: it sources, underwrites, negotiates, and executes global trade autonomously. Every improvement you ship directly moves real transactions for some of the biggest companies in America. Few people on Earth will get to own a problem like this at this stage.

What you'll own

• The entire AI roadmap — architecture, modeling strategy, evals, and shipping. No committee. No handoffs. Your call.
• The supplier underwriting engine — an API-driven system that can risk-rate any supplier on the planet, starting with one of the hardest data environments in the world: China.
• Agentic execution — workflows that take a purchase from "we need 40 containers of X" to goods on the water, autonomously.
• The future AI team — you'll be a hands-on builder first, then hire and lead the people who scale your systems.

Who we're looking for

• You've shipped production LLM or agent systems that real users depend on — not demos, not papers alone
• Research-grade depth with product-grade instincts (DeepMind, FAIR, OpenAI, Anthropic, or elite applied ML teams are the profile, not the requirement)
• You run toward ambiguity: no spec, no PM — a hard problem, direct access to customers, and full authority to solve it
• You see what we see: supply chain is one of the largest, least-automated markets AI will ever touch, and the window to own it is right now

What you get

• Top-of-market compensation for the stage: strong base + founding-level equity
• A seat at the table with the founders on every major technical and strategic decision