> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt.

# Forward Deployed Researcher - Data as a Service

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/e5f41ce33de88dfc

Snorkel AI posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in New York, NY +1 · US remote, at $160,000–$400,000 · OTE base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Forward Deployed Researchers partner with frontier AI labs to shape and deliver technical data, training environments, and evaluation work that improves frontier model performance. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Snorkel AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/snorkel-ai)

Posted Feb 24, 2026 by Snorkel AI · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026

**$160,000–$400,000 · OTE** + equity New York, NY +1 · US remote Remote

Forward Deployed Researchers partner with frontier AI labs to shape and deliver technical data, training environments, and evaluation work that improves frontier model performance.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fe5f41ce33de88dfc&placement=top)
- [View posting at Snorkel AI](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/snorkelai/jobs/5811245004)

Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so.

## At a glance

### Posted base pay

$160K–$400K Above the median

Midpoint $280K · median $190K

This job $160K to $400K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K.

### The work

Builds what the customer runs

Balance **Mixed**

Project stages

1. Pre-sales
2. Proof of concept (not covered)
3. Implementation
4. Operations (not covered)

- **Coding**: Prototypes and scripts

- **Builds for**: External customers

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Technical lead

### What they ask for

Experience

- **4+ years** AI/ML research or technical roles *Preferred*

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 4+ years. How many do you have?

The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now?

The work is remote from the US. Can you work from the US?

Which of these have you used in production?

Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent.

[What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths)

## Conditions

- **Location**: New York, NY · San Francisco, CA · US remote

- **Work arrangement**: Remote

- **Remote work restrictions**: Remote in the United States, or hybrid in New York City or San Francisco.

- **Pay**:

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## The job description from Snorkel AI

Posted by Snorkel AI on Feb 24, 2026

### About Snorkel

Snorkel AI is the frontier AI data lab, helping teams build the data and environments behind high-performing frontier and agentic AI. We combine technology with research-driven AI data development to create datasets, benchmarks, evals, and custom solutions for real-world AI systems. Founded out of the Stanford AI Lab in 2019, Snorkel works with leading AI labs and enterprises to move from better data to better outcomes.

Excited to help us redefine how AI is built? Apply to be the newest Snorkeler!

### About the Role

Snorkel AI is hiring Forward Deployed Researchers **(Multiple levels)** who will partner with frontier AI labs on their most challenging data problems. This is a high-impact, customer-facing role that combines deep technical and research credibility with the ability to work directly with customer research teams. You'll partner with customer research teams to design complex data and environments that improve frontier model performance, serving as a thought partner throughout the engagement.

You'll work at the critical intersection of research, technical strategy, and customer partnership. This includes scoping training data needs, designing RL environments and tasks, developing evaluation frameworks, probing model behavior and failure modes, and translating customer research objectives into actionable technical plans.

Forward Deployed Researchers own a technical domain. You are the person who knows where frontier models fail in it, what data moves those numbers, and what we should build next.

### Main Responsibilities

- Own a technical domain end to end: the technical bar for what we build in it, and what we build next
- Partner with frontier AI research labs to design datasets and environments that improve model performance
- Lead technical conversations with customer researchers to understand model capabilities, failure modes, data requirements, and success criteria
- Probe model behavior through systematic evaluation to uncover weaknesses and identify high-impact data interventions
- Benchmark frontier models against our datasets to demonstrate value to customers, building or adapting evaluation harnesses as needed, and turn the results into pass-rate analysis, failure-mode breakdowns, and purchase recommendations
- Design evaluation frameworks, calibration processes, and quality rubrics that establish measurable project success metrics
- Develop technical specifications for data projects that balance research rigor with operational feasibility
- Hold the demand shape for your domain: which labs want what, at what volume, against what bar, and where the asks are converging
- Develop a point of view on where your domain is heading, and partner with Research on what should exist before a customer asks for it
- Serve as thought partner to customer research teams throughout the sales cycle, building trust and credibility
- Stay current on frontier AI research, RL environment design, post-training techniques, and evaluation methodologies

### Preferred Qualifications

- Strong expertise in frontier AI concepts including LLMs, training data pipelines, evaluation methodologies, post-training techniques (RLHF, DPO, RLAIF), and domain areas such as coding agents, reasoning, multimodal models, or RL environments
- Experience in applied ML research, data science, or research-intensive technical roles
- Customer-facing or collaborative research experience, or demonstrated aptitude for client engagement
- Proficiency in Python, familiarity with ML frameworks and LLM APIs, and comfort running evaluations in containerized environments
- Excellent communication skills, ability to deliver technical presentations and explain complex concepts to diverse audiences
- Familiarity with data curation workflows, synthetic data generation, LLM-as-a-Judge, or evaluation framework design
- Willingness to make and state a defensible assumption when a request arrives underspecified, rather than waiting for the customer to close the gap
- Ability to work in a fast-moving environment, comfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration
- B.S. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field with 4+ years of experience in AI/ML research or technical roles; advanced degree preferred

### Compensation

The OTE (on target earnings) salary range for this role is ~**$160,000–$400,000 USD**, depending on location, experience, and qualifications. This role may also be eligible for additional benefits, including health and dental coverage and equity grants.

Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location.

Salary range(s) for this role

$160,000—$400,000 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.*

[View posting at Snorkel AI](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/snorkelai/jobs/5811245004)

## About Snorkel AI

Data-centric AI platform and expert-data provider that helps enterprises and frontier labs build, evaluate, and tune specialized models and agents.

Series D · 500–1000 people

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