VP of Research Machine Learning

About The Role

A1 is building a proactive AI system that maintains context across conversations, plans actions, and carries work forward over time. As the VP of Research Machine Learning, you will own the research and intelligence direction of this system, defining how AI reasons, evaluates, and improves within a high-frequency product.

What You'll Do

• Set and evolve the research direction for core intelligence.
• Decide on model architecture design versus leveraging existing models.
• Define evaluation frameworks for real-world usefulness and safety.
• Own alignment, safety, and guardrail strategy.
• Guide exploration of frontier techniques such as retrieval-augmented training, mixture-of-experts, distillation, multi-agent orchestration, and multimodal systems.
• Shape early product intelligence with product and application engineering teams.
• Set the technical bar for research rigor across the organization.

Requirements

• Deep experience with real machine learning systems in production.
• Strong technical judgment regarding model behavior and trade-offs.
• A builder’s mindset focused on practical systems.
• Comfortable making high-impact decisions with incomplete information.
• Obsession with evaluation, correctness, and system behavior over time.
• High ownership mentality; operate like a founder.

Tech Stack

• Python
• PyTorch / JAX
• GPU-based training and inference systems

How We Work

Our organization is flat with a small, highly motivated team focused on engineering and product excellence. Every team member is expected to contribute directly to the mission.

Interview Process

If there is a fit, expect 3 to 4 interviews conducted virtually and/or onsite. Applications are evaluated by our technical team with a prompt decision process.

Key skills/competency

• Machine Learning
• AI Research
• Production Systems
• Model Evaluation
• Technical Judgment
• Safety & Alignment
• Research Direction
• System Design
• Python
• PyTorch/JAX