Research Director Jobs in San Francisco, CA

About Snorkel

At Snorkel, we believe meaningful AI doesn’t start with the model, it starts with the data. We’re on a mission to help enterprises transform expert knowledge into specialized AI at scale. The AI landscape has gone through incredible changes since 2015, when Snorkel started as a research project in the Stanford AI Lab, to the generative AI breakthroughs of today. But one thing has remained constant: the data you use to build AI is the key to achieving differentiation, high performance, and production-ready systems. We work with some of the world’s largest organizations to empower scientists, engineers, financial experts, product creators, journalists, and more to build custom AI with their data faster than ever before. Excited to help us redefine how AI is built? Apply to be the newest Snorkeler!

About The Role

We're looking for a manager to lead a team of researchers to focus on data evaluation, error analysis and data valuation methods to predict model performance. This team is responsible for showcasing the value and quality of Snorkel’s data for model training and evaluation, understanding where today's frontier models fall short, and turning that understanding into a point of view on what benchmarks and datasets these models will benefit from. You and your team will be responsible for Snorkel’s data design flywheel by analyzing model failures, finding capability and skill gaps in current models, suggesting the next benchmarks to invest in and then proving the value of this data for our customers.

Main Responsibilities

- Own a multi-quarter roadmap centered on novel evaluation, error analysis, and data valuation techniques
- Synthesize and share trends from model-failure analysis and benchmarking into recommendations on the datasets the community should focus on and the ones Snorkel should invest in — making this team a primary input to the company's data strategy.
- Focus on data valuation techniques that quantify how Snorkel data meaningfully improves model performance
- Lead and grow a team of researchers, setting a high bar for quality, rigor and speed of execution
- Act as the primary bridge between the team's findings and Product, GTM, and our customers

Preferred Qualifications

- 7+ years in applied AI, ML, or research roles, with 4+ years managing technical teams.
- A leader who has repeatedly turned research and analysis into business outcomes, and who instinctively connects technical findings to market and customer needs.
- Strong business and market judgment in the AI/ML space — you understand the competitive and frontier-lab landscape and can prioritize accordingly.
- Technically conversant and credible: enough depth in LLM evaluation, benchmarking, and model behavior analysis to set direction, judge experimental quality, and pressure-test results — without needing to be the deepest technical expert in the room.
- A nose for trends: able to look across many evaluation results and failure cases and extract the signal that should drive what gets built next.
- Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to make technical results legible and persuasive to non-research audiences.
- Familiarity with data valuation or data attribution research is a strong plus.
- Bonus: experience working with frontier labs, public benchmarks, or commercial AI data/eval products.

Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location. Salary range(s) for this role $275,000—$425,000 USD

Be Your Best at Snorkel

Joining Snorkel AI means becoming part of a company that has market proven solutions, robust funding, and is scaling rapidly—offering a unique combination of stability and the excitement of high growth. As a member of our team, you’ll have meaningful opportunities to shape priorities and initiatives, influence key strategic decisions, and directly impact our ongoing success. Whether you’re looking to deepen your technical expertise, explore leadership opportunities, or learn new skills across multiple functions, you’re fully supported in building your career in an environment designed for growth, learning, and shared success.

Snorkel AI is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and is committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Snorkel AI embraces diversity and provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment. Snorkel AI prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, performance, merit, and business need.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.