Job description

Mountain View, CA | AI Fund | Full-time AI Fund is a venture studio founded by Dr. Andrew Ng in 2017. We build AI companies from the ground up with corporate partners, investors, and elite founders, backed by a fund from top-tier global corporations and VC firms. Our purpose is to build AI companies that move humanity forward. A Senior Associate Builder finds out fast whether an idea has real demand. The core of the role is build velocity: rapidly prototyping in a new space, putting it in front of users, and turning their feedback into market signal that AI Fund, our partners, and our founders use to make bets. Your job is to validate or falsify ideas quickly and honestly. What you'll do Work with commercial partners, including corporates, VCs, and LPs, and with elite founders to identify, shape, and validate new company ideas. Build prototypes that answer the open question about an idea. Start with the simplest design that works and add complexity only when the evidence calls for it. Put prototypes in front of users, run user research, and turn what you hear into clear market signal. Support partners and founders during the 12-week Build with hands-on product design and go-to-market work. Present what you learned to the team and to potential founders: what worked, what failed, and what they need to decide next. Stay at the frontier by reading papers, model cards, and technical writeups, and fold what you learn into the next build. What you need Technical ability, a real understanding of frontier AI, and hands-on experience coding with AI. Experience as an engineer, product manager, or in go-to-market. Hands-on experience building GenAI applications, such as LLM calls, RAG, agentic workflows, and evals. Skill with AI coding tools like Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex, directing them to ship working software while you own the quality bar. The judgment to write scrappy, disposable code for a fast prototype and clean code when it needs to last. Personal experience and interest in building, hacking, and prototyping. The ability to communicate with rigor and back your views with analysis. A STEM or research degree from a top research university, or an equivalent background where you've built the same rigor. Helpful but not required Experience shipping MVPs, prototypes, or early-stage products. Interest or experience in product design and product thinking. Contributions to open-source GenAI projects or tools. Who this is for Someone with real intellectual range who gets up to speed on a new space quickly and makes everyone around them smarter about it. A builder who ships MVPs fast and still builds on weekends because staying at the frontier is what they'd do anyway. #LI-DNI At AI Fund, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Requirements

Must-haves

Mountain View, CA | AI Fund | Full-time
Work with commercial partners, including corporates, VCs, and LPs, and with elite founders to identify, shape, and validate new company ideas.
Build prototypes that answer the open question about an idea. Start with the simplest design that works and add complexity only when the evidence calls for it.
Put prototypes in front of users, run user research, and turn what you hear into clear market signal.
Support partners and founders during the 12-week Build with hands-on product design and go-to-market work.
Present what you learned to the team and to potential founders: what worked, what failed, and what they need to decide next.
Stay at the frontier by reading papers, model cards, and technical writeups, and fold what you learn into the next build.
What you need
Technical ability, a real understanding of frontier AI, and hands-on experience coding with AI.
Experience as an engineer, product manager, or in go-to-market.
Hands-on experience building GenAI applications, such as LLM calls, RAG, agentic workflows, and evals.
Skill with AI coding tools like Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex, directing them to ship working software while you own the quality bar.
The judgment to write scrappy, disposable code for a fast prototype and clean code when it needs to last.
Personal experience and interest in building, hacking, and prototyping.
The ability to communicate with rigor and back your views with analysis.
A STEM or research degree from a top research university, or an equivalent background where you've built the same rigor.
Helpful but not required
Experience shipping MVPs, prototypes, or early-stage products.
Interest or experience in product design and product thinking.
Contributions to open-source GenAI projects or tools.
Who this is for
Someone with real intellectual range who gets up to speed on a new space quickly and makes everyone around them smarter about it.
A builder who ships MVPs fast and still builds on weekends because staying at the frontier is what they'd do anyway.

Nice-to-haves

None flagged.

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

aigollm

Platform: lever
Effort: quick