[Hiring] VP of Research, Machine Learning @Next Step Systems

Role Description

The VP of Research, Machine Learning (ML) will own the research and intelligence direction of this system. This position is 100% Remote.

MUST BE WILLING TO TAKE A 60 MINUTE CODING ASSESSMENT.

Responsibilities:

• Set and evolve the research direction for the core intelligence, including context representation, memory, reasoning, planning, and orchestration.
• Decide when to design new model architectures versus adapting or leveraging frontier open-source or commercial models.
• Define evaluation frameworks that measure real-world usefulness, robustness, safety, and long-term behavior, not benchmark vanity.
• Own alignment, safety, and guardrail strategy as first-class product concerns.
• Guide exploration of frontier techniques such as retrieval-augmented training, mixture-of-experts, distillation, multi-agent orchestration, and multimodal systems.
• Shape early product intelligence direction in close partnership with product and application engineering.
• Set the technical bar for research rigor, judgment, and taste across the organization.

Qualifications

• Deep experience building or evolving real Machine Learning (ML) systems used in production.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) experience required.
• Strong technical judgment around model behavior, failure modes, and long-horizon trade-offs.
• A builder’s mindset; you care about systems that work in the real world, not just ideas.
• Comfortable making irreversible or high-impact decisions with incomplete information.
• Obsession with evaluation, correctness, and how systems behave over time.
• High ownership mentality; you operate as a founder, not a manager.
• Tech Stack: GPU-based training and inference system, JAX, Python, and PyTorch.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental
• Vision
• Savings Plan Options
• PTO

Compensation

USD 225,000 - USD 275,000 yearly