Head of Compute

Goodfire

$400K — $500K *
Enterprise Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience in technical resource management, specifically in GPU or compute resource allocation
  • Strong understanding of GPU economics and vendor negotiation skills
  • Proven ability to balance strategic priorities and make hard trade-offs
  • Experience in forecasting demand to inform long-term capacity planning
  • Ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, especially in research and product development
  • Strong leadership skills with a focus on building team cohesion and strategic alignment

Responsibilities

  • Own Goodfire's compute strategy for model training, research, and customer workloads
  • Develop and execute sourcing strategies for GPUs, optimizing for cost and reliability
  • Secure compute capacity and pricing amid GPU scarcity
  • Manage end-to-end economics of compute, including vendor negotiations and capacity planning
  • Collaborate with research and product teams to turn roadmaps into compute requirements
  • Build forecasting models to predict compute demand and enable planning
  • Partner with finance on capital allocation and infrastructure strategy

Benefits

  • Equity participation in the company
  • Access to competitive benefits package
  • Opportunity to work in a dynamic, mission-driven environment
  • Onsite work in the San Francisco office for daily collaboration
  • Potential to impact groundbreaking technology development
Full Job Description
About the role

We're hiring a Head of Compute to own the strategy behind one of the most critical resources at the company: our compute for model training, research, and customers. You'll own everything from how we allocate our compute to how we source capacity, whether that's renting, partnering, or owning our own GPUs. You'll make the calls that determine how far our world-class research and product ambitions can go.

We're looking for someone who can navigate GPU scarcity and partner negotiations with rigor, and moves with exceptional urgency. You'll need strong judgment to balance competing demands and the conviction to make hard trade-offs rather than split the difference. You may be the right fit if you find the intersection of infrastructure, strategy, and high-stakes resource allocation exhilarating.
Key responsibilities
  • Own Goodfire's compute strategy across training, research, and customer workloads
  • Build and execute our compute sourcing strategy, deciding when to rent, partner, or own GPUs. Continuously optimize for cost, reliability, and strategic flexibility
  • Secure the compute capacity and pricing that protect our ambitions under real GPU scarcity
  • Own the economics of compute end-to-end, including vendor negotiations, contract strategy, capacity planning, utilization, and long-term impact
  • Partner closely with research and product teams to translate roadmaps into concrete compute requirements and ensure infrastructure never becomes a bottleneck
  • Build forecasting models that anticipate compute demand and enable confident long-term planning
  • Partner with finance and leadership on capital allocation, investment decisions, and infrastructure strategy
Our values

Goodfire is looking for individuals who embody our values and share our deep commitment to making interpretability accessible. We are building a team first and foremost.

Put mission and team first

All we do is in service of our mission. We trust each other, deeply care about the success of the organization, and choose to put our team above ourselves.

Improve constantly

We are constantly looking to improve every piece of the business. We proactively critique ourselves and others in a kind and thoughtful way that translates to practical improvements in the organization. We are pragmatic and consistently implement the obvious fixes that work.

Take ownership and initiative

There are no bystanders here. We proactively identify problems and take full responsibility over getting a strong result. We are self-driven, own our mistakes, and feel deep responsibility over what we're building.

Action today

We have a small amount of time to do something incredibly hard and meaningful. The pace and intensity of the organization is high. If we can take action today or tomorrow, we will choose to do it today.
Where we work

We are hiring for this position in our San Francisco office who'd be onsite 5 days a week.
What we offer

This role offers market competitive salary, equity, and competitive benefits.

The expected salary range for this position is $400-500k.

This role reports to our CEO.

Most importantly, you'll have the opportunity to join a vital mission at an important point in its trajectory - we are developing groundbreaking technology with a world-class team on the critical path to ensuring a safe and beneficial future for humanity. If you want to do your life's work with us, even if you believe you do not meet every single requirement, apply now.

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