Head of AI/ML – VC Backed Startups

SignalFire

AI/ML executive defining strategy, building teams, and deploying production ML systems for SignalFire’s VC-backed startup portfolio. Partnering with founders and product leaders to drive differentiated products and business outcomes.

Posted 8/5/2026full-timeNew York City • New York • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $250,000 - $300,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in defining and executing AI and machine learning strategies, leading teams in developing scalable ML systems, and ensuring model quality and compliance with privacy and regulatory standards. Proven ability to connect technical investments to business value and product differentiation.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Machine Learning StrategyTeam Leadership in AI/MLModel Evaluation and DeploymentLarge Language Models ExperienceTechnical Leadership and Strategy

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Machine LearningArtificial IntelligenceData ScienceModel EvaluationData PipelinesDeep LearningGenerative AIStatistical AnalysisSoftware EngineeringTechnical Standards

Soft Skills

JudgmentCommunicationCollaborationOrganizational DesignTeam Management

Tools & Technologies

PythonPyTorchTensorFlowJAXScikit-learnAWSGCPAzureKubernetesDocker

Certifications & Qualifications

Advanced Degree in Computer ScienceAdvanced Degree in Machine LearningAdvanced Degree in StatisticsAdvanced Degree in Mathematics

Industry Keywords

AI OpportunitiesProduct CapabilitiesProduction ML SystemsData GovernanceResponsible AICustomer OutcomesBusiness ValueStartup EnvironmentHigh-Growth TechnologyModel Platforms

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AirflowAWSAzureDockerGoogle Cloud PlatformKafkaKubernetesPythonPyTorchScikit-LearnSparkTensorflow

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define and execute company AI and machine learning strategy aligned with product and business priorities
Build, lead, and develop teams across machine learning, applied AI, data science, and research
Identify high-impact AI opportunities and translate them into differentiated product capabilities
Lead development, evaluation, deployment, and continuous improvement of production ML systems
Establish technical standards for model quality, experimentation, reliability, observability, and responsible AI
Guide decisions on model selection, fine-tuning, retrieval, data strategy, infrastructure, and build-versus-buy tradeoffs
Partner with engineering and product leaders to integrate AI capabilities into scalable customer-facing products
Oversee data collection, labeling, governance, and feedback loops
Evaluate emerging models, research, and tooling with focus on customer and business value
Communicate AI strategy, capabilities, limitations, and investment priorities to executives, boards, customers, and partners
Support recruiting, organizational design, and workforce planning for AI and ML functions
Establish safeguards for privacy, security, bias, explainability, and regulatory requirements
Submit an application to join SignalFire’s Talent Ecosystem
Maintain profile consideration for future AI and machine learning leadership roles across the portfolio

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years of experience across machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, or software engineering, including meaningful leadership experience
Proven experience building and scaling AI/ML teams in startup or high-growth technology environments
Track record of developing and deploying machine learning systems into production
Strong technical foundation across modern ML methods, model evaluation, data pipelines, and production infrastructure
Experience applying large language models, generative AI, deep learning, or traditional machine learning to real-world products
Ability to connect technical investments to product differentiation, customer outcomes, and business value
Experience partnering with product, engineering, data, and go-to-market leaders
Strong judgment around model quality, latency, cost, scalability, safety, and reliability
Ability to operate across hands-on technical leadership, team management, and executive-level strategy
Advanced degree in computer science, machine learning, statistics, mathematics, or a related field may be preferred but is not always required
Experience with technologies including Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX, scikit-learn, Hugging Face, large language models, multimodal models, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning, prompt engineering, agentic systems, Spark, Databricks, Snowflake, Kafka, Airflow, vector databases, feature stores, AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, MLflow, Weights & Biases, SageMaker, Vertex AI, and major model platforms

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equity offered
Profile visibility into exclusive early-stage opportunities across SignalFire’s portfolio companies
Potential future opportunities across portfolio companies
Occasional communications such as newsletters, insights, or invitations to community events (opt-in)