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Salary: USD 453,600 - 567,000 / annual
Scale AI is seeking a VP of Research to lead its ML Research function and shape the technical direction of the company's frontier AI research efforts. This is a critical leadership role blending cutting-edge research with applied ML impact, responsible for building and scaling a world-class research organization focused on evaluation, post-training, agents, safety, and alignment of advanced AI systems.
You will lead the entire ML Research function, responsible for delivery, quality, performance, and roadmap execution across Scale's research initiatives. This includes Scale Labs (frontier research on evaluation, agents, post-training, reasoning, safety, and alignment) and the SPRL team (safety and policy research bridging AI research and global policymakers).
Key responsibilities include: building and scaling a global high-performing research team with emphasis on initiative ownership and ML excellence; partnering directly with Fortune 100 customers and the go-to-market team to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions; collaborating with engineering, product, and delivery teams to drive cutting-edge research; shaping the long-term vision and organizational design of the ML Research team; managing and mentoring senior ML Research leaders while instilling a culture of accountability, speed, and results; making rigorous tradeoffs across technical and business dimensions; and representing ML Research in cross-functional planning cycles.
You should have a strong track record of leading ML Research teams in high-growth environments, ideally in ML, infrastructure, or complex systems. You must demonstrate experience scaling research organizations across geographies and structuring teams effectively. The ideal candidate operates with urgency and clarity, distilling priorities and moving teams from ambiguity to execution. You should have deep experience partnering with sales, delivery, and customer success teams, be equally comfortable in technical details and at the executive level, and bring credibility in core technical areas such as product engineering, infrastructure, or AI agent systems.
Scale is the leading data and evaluation partner for frontier AI companies, working with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, and U.S. government agencies. The company develops reliable AI systems and provides high-quality data and full-stack technologies powering the world's leading models.
