Summary
What you’ll impact
The VP of Research will lead the organization's ML Research function, shaping technical direction, translating research into production solutions, and partnering with customers and internal teams. This senior leader will build and scale a global high‑performing research organization, manage senior leaders, and drive the long‑term vision and roadmap for frontier AI safety and policy research.
Responsibilities
What you'll do
- You will shape the technical direction of Scale’s ML research, translate science into production-ready solutions, and partner with go-to-market, delivery, engineering, and customers to ensure our work defines the next era of AI.
- You’ll lead with vision and clarity, execute with urgency, and grow with intention.
- Lead the ML Research function, responsible for delivery, quality, performance, and roadmap execution
- Build and scale a global high-performing team, with an emphasis on initiative ownership and ML excellence
- Partner directly with Fortune 100 customers and the GTM team to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions
- Collaborate with engineering, product, and delivery teams across Scale to drive cutting edge research
- Shape the long-term vision and org design of the ML Research team, aligned with business growth and product evolution
- Manage and mentor senior ML Research leaders and instill a culture of accountability, speed, and results
- Make rigorous tradeoffs across technical and business dimensions, backed by financial insight and operational understanding
- Represent ML Research in cross-functional planning cycles, including headcount, budget, and strategic initiatives
Requirements
What you’ll bring
- Has a strong track record of leading ML Research teams in high-growth environments, ideally in ML, infrastructure, or complex systems
- Has scaled research organizations across geographies and understands how to structure and evolve teams effectively
- Operates with urgency and clarity—able to distill priorities and move teams from ambiguity to execution
- Has experience partnering deeply with sales, delivery, and customer success teams
- Is equally comfortable in the weeds and at the executive level; knows when to lead from the front and when to empower others
- Brings credibility and curiosity in core technical areas—especially product engineering, infrastructure, or AI agent systems