AI21 is an AI lab building frontier models and AI systems for the enterprise since 2017, and the only Israeli foundation lab that have trained LLMs from scratch.

Creator of the Jurassic and Jamba model families, AI21 today offers its lab-as-a-service for specialized intelligence: Forward-Deployed Researchers and a harness- and model-training platform that turn open foundations into models its customers own, delivered with the weights, recipes and evaluations that keep them theirs. 

Role Overview

As an Applied AI Lead, you will be responsible for the successful design, execution and delivery of  strategic, customer-facing AI projects from initial customer engagement and technical scoping through execution and production delivery. Operating at the intersection of technical customer leadership, AI expertise, and technical project management, you will guide an interdisciplinary team of engineers, algorithm developers, linguists, and infrastructure experts, driving alignment and execution. You are a technical leader and trusted customer partner, translating complex AI concepts, building deep client trust, and driving project scope, milestones, risks, and execution, while balancing resources, timelines, and quality.

Key Requirements

• Deep Technical AI Expertise: 
• Strong technical understanding of modern AI/LLM systems and model training processes, with the ability to engage credibly with engineers and algorithm developers.
• Ability to navigate technical trade-offs and provide sound technical judgment across the AI lifecycle, including training, evaluation, data and inference.
• Project Management: 
• Ability to define and drive scope, milestones, priorities, dependencies and success criteria, while proactively managing risks and blockers.
• Strong execution and communication skills, with the ability to create clarity in complex and ambiguous environments.
• Orchestrating multiple high-stakes, expensive projects and navigating internal and external stakeholders under tight schedules and technical uncertainty.
• Technical Customer Relations: Driven by a genuine interest in customer success, you possess exceptional client-facing skills with a talent for managing high-profile relationships, establishing healthy communication routines, understanding nuanced customer needs, and building lasting trust.
• Leadership & Cross-Functional Influence: 
• Proven ability to lead without authority across diverse, interdisciplinary teams while fostering strong internal routines and collaboration.
• Working with internal and external senior management, including legal and finance, across different resolutions and depths. 
• Product Definition: Ability to define what a "good" model output looks like. Experience writing data specs, resolving behavior tradeoffs, establishing success metrics, and curating golden datasets.