Strategic Projects Lead – Coding — AfterQuery

Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite)
Compensation: $130,000 – $150,000 base | Up to ~$300,000 total cash comp + equity

AfterQuery is an AI infrastructure and research company building training data and evaluation systems for frontier AI labs. They work directly with leading AI organizations to improve model performance through datasets and experimentation. $30M raised at ~$300M valuation, backed by Y Combinator, Lightspeed, Index Ventures, and BoxGroup. Founding team backgrounds include Jane Street, Meta, Citadel, Google, Goldman Sachs, Berkeley AI Research, and Stanford AI Lab.

This is a founding-level technical execution role operating at the intersection of engineering, AI research, and strategic delivery. You will work directly with the founding team on high-priority initiatives tied to building datasets, infrastructure, and systems used by leading AI labs. This is not a traditional engineering role — it requires both hands-on technical capability and the ability to lead complex, high-impact initiatives end to end.

• Own technical initiatives end to end — from problem definition through delivery
• Build systems and pipelines for dataset generation, quality control, and delivery
• Develop internal tooling that supports large-scale AI data workflows
• Manage teams of engineers, data scientists, and ML practitioners
• Interface directly with engineering and research teams at leading AI labs
• Work across engineering, research, and operations — context-switching between technical execution and strategic problem solving

• Strong technical background with CS degree or equivalent engineering experience
• Proven ability to ship technical projects and build production-level systems
• Experience managing technical teams across engineering, data, or ML domains
• Proficiency in Python and comfort writing production-quality code
• Experience working with APIs, data pipelines, or AI/ML tooling
• Strong communication skills with ability to work directly with technical stakeholders
• High agency, ownership mindset, and ability to operate in ambiguity

• Software engineering, ML engineering, AI research, or computer science
• Experience at top tech companies, AI labs, or quantitative firms
• Startup or founding experience

• Profiles lacking hands-on technical depth
• Those unable to operate in ambiguous, high-intensity environments
• Candidates who prefer remote work — this role is fully onsite

• Role is fully onsite in San Francisco — please only apply if you can commit to this
• Multiple headcount with active hiring demand

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by David Joseph & Co., the recruiting partner managing this search on behalf of AfterQuery.