Founding Strategic Projects Lead

$130k - $175k

David Joseph & Company

Job Description

Palo Alto / Menlo Park, CA · On-site (5 days) · Full-time Compensation: $130,000–$175,000 base + uncapped OTE + competitive equity

About the Company

Our client is a reinforcement-learning-model (RLM) data company selling premium, high-margin data to frontier AI labs, recently backed by a top-tier venture firm. The founders currently do the strategic-projects work themselves, spending most of their day with labs ensuring data quality. Two differentiators: an uncapped commission structure (unlike some competitors), and each strategic-projects lead personally carries $20–30M of ARR with extreme ownership. Average contract value is ~$2M, with some projects in the seven figures.

Founded 2025 · 7–8 people (Seed) · Industry: AI Tools

The Role

The client is hiring its first Finance-track Founding Strategic Projects Lead to own the end-to-end delivery of frontier AI-lab finance projects. The work keeps financial-modeling chops sharp — not on real-world transactions, but building RLM training data based on financial models (LBOs, comparables). The take-home is a difficult, unstructured Excel modeling exercise that filters heavily for fit.

Tech stack: Excel-based financial modeling (LBOs, comparables).

Requirements

2–5 years of investment banking or private equity
Excel modeling plus LBOs
High grit and creative problem-solving
On-site in Palo Alto / Menlo Park, 5 days a week
Weekends optional; the team is in the office

Nice to Haves

A top investment bank (e.g., Goldman, Morgan Stanley, JPM, Evercore, Centerview, Lazard, Moelis, or comparable) or top PE firm (e.g., KKR, Blackstone, Apollo, Carlyle, or comparable) with 2+ years' tenure
A boutique PE firm with a strong reputation and demonstrated impact
A strong school and strong bank combination
Demonstrated grit: side projects, competitive academic achievements, athletics, or other high-intensity backgrounds
Excitement about uncapped commission and willingness to grind for maximum upside

Why Join

Uncapped upside: an uncapped commission structure — a real differentiator versus some competitors
Extreme ownership: each lead personally carries $20–30M of ARR across customer projects
A founding seat: the first Finance-track Strategic Projects Lead, reporting directly to the founder with significant autonomy
Backing: recently raised from a top-tier venture firm

Details

Location — Palo Alto / Menlo Park, CA
Work policy — On-site, 5 days/week
Compensation — $130,000–$175,000 base + uncapped OTE + competitive equity
Visa sponsorship — Not available
Employment type — Full-time

Apply

Vacancy posted a month ago

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