AfterQuery is an applied research lab curating data solutions for foundation model development. We serve every frontier AI lab with the mission of delivering the best data to power the best models. In doing so, we can make expertise that once took a lifetime to build available to anyone who needs it.
Our customers are the ones building the foundation models themselves and our work sits directly in the loop of how those systems improve. This is a rare opportunity to join a company at a defining moment in AI. We are YC’s fastest unicorn, valued at $3.2 billion. We’re based in San Francisco and backed by leading investors including Altos Ventures, BoxGroup, and Y Combinator and angels from Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta Superintelligence Labs, and Microsoft AI.
Why Apply
Benefits
Massive Opportunity: We are YC’s fastest unicorn valued at $3.2 billion and we’re not slowing down.
Founding Impact: You will own and architect core infrastructure systems that power our platform from the ground up.
Equity & Growth: Competitive salary and meaningful equity. As we scale, you’ll have the opportunity to shape the engineering organization and lead major technical initiatives.
Strong Team: Our founding team has experience from Citadel Securities, Meta, Google, Silver Lake, and Morgan Stanley — work alongside world-class engineers and researchers.
About the role
The AfterQuery Research Scholar program is a semester-long collaboration for students pursuing ambitious, publishable work in one of AfterQuery’s focus areas:
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Data quality and data mix
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Post-training research, including supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning
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Agent and foundation-model evaluation
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Public benchmarks in coding and specialized domains such as medicine, finance, law, and STEM
Projects are shaped around each scholar’s interests, with the goal of producing a joint publication. Scholars receive weekly mentorship and hands-on support with engineering, datasets, human annotation, and compute resources. A cash award is provided if a jointly authored paper from the collaboration is accepted for publication.
Responsibilities
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Define and execute a focused project with an AfterQuery research mentor, aligned with your interests and at least one core research area.
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Formulate research questions, design rigorous experiments, and analyze the results.
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Develop the datasets, methods, evaluations, or benchmark assets the project needs.
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Document methods and results clearly and work with AfterQuery’s research and engineering teams to make the work reproducible.
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Co-author a paper and work toward publication.
Required Qualifications
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Full-time undergraduate/master/PhD student with an established publication record
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Ability to participate in an ongoing research collaboration throughout the academic semester.
Preferred Qualifications
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Research publications at leading conferences or peer-reviewed journals.
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Experience developing, publishing, or contributing to public benchmarks.
Company Benefits (For Eligible Employees):
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Health Insurance: Medical, Vision, Dental
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401(k) with Employer Match
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Daily Meals: Daily UberEats Stipend
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Monthly Wellness Stipend
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Commute Covered
Legal
We are an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. Employment decisions are made without regard to legally protected characteristics under applicable federal, state, or local law.
We comply with applicable pay transparency requirements and provide compensation ranges based on the position, qualifications, experience, and other relevant factors. Reasonable accommodations are available to qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs, as required by law. This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed and is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, or working conditions associated with the position. We reserve the right to modify this job description as business needs change.