Member of Technical Staff -- Applied Scientist

Crucibl
Crucibl

IT

San Francisco, CA, USA

Posted on Aug 7, 2026

Why Crucibl

Management consulting is a $400B industry built on selling intelligence-for-hire. The model is breaking - not slowly, but now. The biggest frontier in enterprise AI isn't better models. It's judgment at scale: taking the messy, ambiguous decisions that run 85% of the global economy and making them faster, crisper, and more defensible.

Crucibl is building that. We're profitable, growing fast, and delivering for Fortune 500 clients. We raised a $10M seed from Tier 1 VCs - then kept growing on revenue. The client pipeline is full. We're scaling to meet it.


What You'll Do

Turn Research Into Product

  • Design and build the reasoning and modeling components at the core of our intelligence engine - retrieval, orchestration, evaluation, fine-tuning

  • Take promising techniques from research and turn them into robust, production-grade systems

  • Own the full loop: experiment, measure, ship, iterate on real client data

Make the Product Smarter

  • Build and improve the models and pipelines that power judgment at scale for enterprise clients

  • Instrument systems to catch failure modes early and turn them into concrete improvements

  • Balance rigor with speed - our clients need answers now, not eventually

Partner with Founders

  • Collaborate on roadmap, trade-offs, and technical vision

  • Ship directly to enterprise clients - your work has immediate, measurable impact

Set the Bar

  • Define what great applied science looks like in an AI-first organization

  • Raise the bar for the team as it grows

Who You Are Must-Haves

  • At least one undeniable signal of excellence - built and shipped ML systems at a top tech company, early applied scientist at a startup that built something real, notable open source work, or top-tier CS/ML program

  • Strong fundamentals in ML/AI - you've taken models from prototype to production, not just notebook to paper

  • Shipped meaningful ML-powered products end-to-end - not just features, but systems people rely on

  • Comfortable with the full stack of applied work: data, modeling, evaluation, deployment

Strong Signal

  • Experience building LLM-powered products, pipelines, or agentic systems in production

  • Experience with enterprise data systems or analytics infrastructure

  • Has operated in a high-growth, high-ambiguity environment

  • Thinks like an owner - big picture, not just your part

We're Not Looking For

  • Scientists who need a full spec before starting - ambiguity is the job

  • Coasters from large tech - we want people who shipped things that mattered, not maintained things that existed

  • Pure researchers without product instincts - we build for real clients, not benchmarks

Who You'll Work With

Our founders bring deep technology experience (Google-scale systems serving hundreds of millions of users) and domain expertise in high-stakes business decisions from top consulting and private equity firms. You'll be the connective tissue between these worlds, and between the company we are today and the company we're becoming.

Benefits & Perks

  • Zero to Outcome: Seed stage means you shape the product, the culture, and the trajectory - not inherit them.

  • See Your Work Matter: No abstractions, no layers - you'll see exactly what you built and what it changed.

  • The People Around You: A small, elite team that will raise your game. We hire for exceptional, not just experienced.

  • Meaningful Equity: Every offer includes a comprehensive salary and equity package.

  • Hybrid Schedule: 3 days in-office with real flexibility around the rest. We care about output, not optics.

  • Full Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision.

  • Daily Lunch & Snacks: Fueled and focused, on us.

Work Authorization

Crucibl welcomes applications from candidates requiring visa sponsorship. Sponsorship eligibility is determined during the interview process.

Crucibl is an equal-opportunity employer. We hire on merit and outcomes, and welcome applicants of every background.