Program Director, Open Benchmarks Grants

Snorkel AI; United States; On-site; USD 163,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Snorkel AI is seeking a program leader for Open Benchmarks Grants in the United States. You will oversee the $30M commitment, run grant cycles, and coordinate cross‑functional teams across research, legal, finance, and marketing to deliver funded projects.

You’ll build and scale a multi‑year research program, measure impact, strengthen external partnerships, and translate ambitious ideas into concrete plans and outcomes. Equal opportunity employer.

Qualifications

• Experience running a program, partnership, or process from idea to delivery.
• Ability to manage budgets and resources across multiple projects.
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration with research, legal, finance, and marketing.

Responsibilities

• Own Open Benchmarks Grants end-to-end, from applications through funding and public release.
• Lead external research partnerships and turn ideas into clear plans and outcomes.
• Manage portfolio, budget, and resources, forecasting needs and allocating within limits.
• Lead cross‑functional execution across Snorkel’s teams to align responsibilities and decisions.
• Build and scale a multi‑year research program, measuring impact to improve future cycles.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder management

Budget management

Cross-functional leadership

External partnerships

Job description

About Snorkel

Snorkel AI is the frontier AI data lab, helping teams build the data and environments behind high-performing frontier and agentic AI. We combine technology with research-driven AI data development to create datasets, benchmarks, evals, and custom solutions for real-world AI systems. Founded out of the Stanford AI Lab in 2019, Snorkel works with leading AI labs and enterprises to move from better data to better outcomes.

About Open Benchmarks Grants

Open Benchmarks Grants is Snorkel’s $30M commitment to fund and support researchers and independent builders developing new AI evaluations. We support the teams behind Terminal-Bench, OSWorld 2.0, and Senior SWE-bench, and run a Research Fellows program for PhD students and postdocs. The program funds work in areas including physical AI, scientific discovery, cybersecurity, safety, and alignment, and helps teams test and strengthen their benchmarks before public release.

What You’ll Do

• Own Open Benchmarks Grants end-to‑end. Lead operations for Snorkel’s $30M commitment to open benchmarks, owning grant cycles & SLAs from applications and review through funding, project milestones, and public release.
• Lead external research partnerships. Serve as the point of contact for external partner organizations and strategic programs to turn ambitious ideas into clear plans and outcomes.
• Manage the portfolio, budget, and resources. Own budget and capacity planning across collaborations. Track spending and commitments, identify projects that need additional support, and make resource allocation decisions within agreed limits as priorities and needs evolve.
• Lead cross‑functional execution across Snorkel’s teams. Bring research, delivery, legal, finance, and marketing together around clear responsibilities and decisions.
• Build and scale a multi‑year research program. Own how we measure and improve program impact and use those findings to improve future cycles.

What We’re Looking For

• You’ve built something that lasts. You’ve taken a program, partnership, or process from an idea to something people rely on. You can explain what you built, what you learned, and how it held up as the work grew.
• You make good decisions with incomplete information. You’re comfortable setting priorities and choosing a path forward. You know when to act independently, when to involve others, and when to change course.
• You’re resourceful and make things happen. When a project gets stuck, you take ownership of finding a way forward. You bring the right people together, try new approaches, and own the problem until there’s a workable solution.
• You’re deeply curious about research and AI. You can follow a technical discussion about benchmarks, ask useful questions, and understand what the answers mean for a project. You recognize when a decision needs a researcher’s expertise.
• People trust you to follow through. You turn conversations into clear commitments, keep budgets accurate and partners informed, and address problems before they become surprises.

Nice To Have

• Experience running a research, grants, or partnership program with external collaborators and a budget.
• Familiarity with academic research, university partnerships, and publication practices.

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

Salary range(s) for this role

$163,000—$280,000 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 us to request accommodation.