Director, Forward Deployed Researcher - Data as a Service
Snorkel AI is seeking a Director, Forward Deployed Researcher for its Data-as-a-service team. This player-coach role involves leading a team to partner with frontier AI labs on data challenges, as well as hands-on technical work on strategic accounts. The Director will be responsible for hiring, coaching, setting technical standards, and owning capacity planning for the team.
Snorkel AI is hiring a Director, Forward Deployed Researcher on the Data-as-a-service team. Your team will partner directly with frontier AI labs on their hardest data problems: scoping training data needs, designing RL environments, developing evaluation frameworks, and translating customer research objectives into actionable technical plans.
This is a player-coach role. Roughly half your time goes to people leadership (hiring, coaching, developing your team) and the other half to hands-on technical work on strategic accounts. You set the technical bar for spec quality and build the playbooks and processes that let the team scale. You influence how the function operates, from process and standards to team culture.
You partner closely with AE leadership on pipeline strategy, account coverage, and SE allocation. You also work cross-functionally with Delivery, Research, and Engineering to ensure smooth handoffs. The right person for this role can hold their own with frontier AI researchers, has strong presales instincts, and wants to build a team.
Posted May 27, 2026