Strategic Projects Lead - STEM

Why Apply

Massive Opportunity: Forbes reported that we could be YC's fastest unicorn, reportedly raising at a $3.2 billion valuation, and we're not slowing down.

Founding Impact: You will own and architect core infrastructure systems that power our platform from the ground up.

Equity & Growth: Competitive salary and meaningful equity. As we scale, you’ll have the opportunity to shape the engineering organization and lead major technical initiatives.

Strong Team: Our founding team has experience from Citadel Securities, Meta, Google, Silver Lake, and Morgan Stanley - work alongside world-class engineers and researchers.

Key Responsibilities

• Project and client management: Work with the world’s leading AI organizations to build next-generation data solutions that push the limits of model capability, while directly driving revenue.
• Manage expert teams across domains: Lead and coordinate highly specialized contributors across fields like finance, software engineering, law, and more to create high-quality outputs at scale.
• Shape how AI systems are trained: Design dataset specifications that directly influence how frontier models are evaluated and improved. Your taste and judgement will shape what foundation models become.
• Drive high-impact execution end-to-end: Own critical projects from idea to delivery. From scoping, executing, iterating, and shipping in a fast-moving, high-stakes environment, you will touch it all.

Gain top tier operational experience: Support the team across a range of operational initiatives that will directly contribute to the future of AfterQuery. You will work across multiple parts of the business in the same week, ranging from building, analyzing, coordinating, and executing where needed most.

Required Qualifications

• PhD (completed or ABD) in biology, chemistry, mathematics, data analytics/statistics, or a related STEM field - or equivalent demonstrated excellence as an IOI, IMO, or USAPhO medalist, ICPC or USACO finalist, or Putnam top 500 finisher
• Background in scientific research, computational modeling, experimental design, or quantitative/statistical analysis within your field
• Deep understanding of core fundamentals in your discipline along with strong quantitative and systems-level reasoning
• High agency and strong work ethic; comfort defining problems and thriving with minimal direction in ambiguous situations
• Demonstrated leadership excellence and strong communication abilities
• Genuine passion for AI and an entrepreneurial inclination
• Demonstrated competitive success (e.g., publications, research awards, fellowships, or the medals/finals listed above)

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with Python, R, or another language used for data analysis
• Familiarity with how LLMs are trained, fine-tuned, or evaluated
• Familiarity with AI tools and workflows

Company Benefits (For Eligible Employees)

• Health Insurance: Medical, Vision, Dental
• 401(k) with Employer Match
• Daily Meals: Daily UberEats Stipend
• Monthly Wellness Stipend

We comply with applicable pay transparency requirements and provide compensation ranges based on the position, qualifications, experience, and other relevant factors. This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed and is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, or working conditions associated with the position. We reserve the right to modify this job description as business needs change.