Head of Artificial Intelligence

Head of AI — San Francisco, CA

Start-up‑Focused Role - $280,000-$320,000 + Equity

About the Role

A fast‑moving startup is seeking a Head of AI to build and lead its artificial intelligence function from the ground up. This is a high‑ownership role designed for someone who thrives in early‑stage environments, moves quickly, and is excited to shape both technical direction and company culture.

What You’ll Do

* Own the entire AI strategy and roadmap, guiding the evolution from early prototypes to scalable production systems.

* Design, train, fine‑tune, and deploy AI/ML models end‑to‑end, remaining hands‑on through early growth phases.

* Build and lead the AI organization — hiring, mentoring, and establishing team structure and best practices.

* Rapidly experiment and iterate, balancing scrappy execution with thoughtful long‑term architecture.

* Establish all AI infrastructure, including data pipelines, training workflows, model hosting, and MLOps foundations.

* Collaborate closely with founders and product/engineering teams to identify high‑impact AI opportunities.

* Implement responsible AI practices from day one, ensuring safety, reliability, robustness, and transparency.

* Evaluate and integrate emerging AI technologies, including LLMs, agentic systems, and multimodal architectures.

* Set standards for experimentation, evaluation, benchmarking, and deployment, optimizing for speed and quality.

What Makes You a Great Fit

* 7–10+ years in AI/ML with significant hands‑on experience building and deploying real systems.

* A track record of shipping AI products or infrastructure in a startup or small‑team environment.

* Deep understanding of LLMs, modern ML frameworks, retrieval systems, data engineering, and model evaluation.

* Ability to move fast while maintaining strong engineering discipline.

* Comfort operating in ambiguity and making high‑impact decisions without perfect information.

* Natural leadership instincts with the ability to both set vision and execute.

* Advanced degree in ML/CS or equivalent practical experience.

Bonus Experience

* Previous experience as a founding ML engineer or early technical leader.

* Direct experience training, fine‑tuning, or analyzing LLMs, multimodal models, or agents.

* Familiarity with lightweight startup‑friendly ML infrastructure (e.g., serverless inference, vector search, lean MLOps).

* Demonstrated ability to build quickly while maintaining high safety and reliability standards.

Location

San Francisco, CA — hybrid role; in‑person collaboration preferred during early team formation.

Head of AI — San Francisco, CA

Start-up‑Focused Role - $280,000-$320,000 + Equity