The posting
Ricursive Intelligence is a frontier AI lab building self-improving systems, starting with chip design. We are reinventing chip development and closing the loop between AI and the hardware that fuels it, recursively accelerating the path to artificial superintelligence. Backed by $335M from Sequoia, Lightspeed, DST, and NVIDIA Ventures, we are a growing, fast-paced team where every hire shapes the work.
The company has unmatched talent density, including IMO, IPhO, and IOAA gold medalists, pioneers who made prior breakthroughs in chip design: AlphaChip (Nature 2021), ePlace (DAC Best Paper Nominee 2014), RL-CCD (DAC Best Paper 2023), INSTA (DAC Best Paper 2025), and C3PO (ASP-DAC Best Paper 2026), chip leads for Apple Silicon (multiple generations of iPhone and iPad) and Google (TPU, OpenTitan), and top researchers and engineers from Anthropic, Google DeepMind, Stanford, and MIT.
ABOUT THE ROLE
In the Strategic Finance & Compute role, you'll help define and execute Ricursive's compute, partnership, and go-to-market strategy.
You'll work closely with the team and co-founders to secure the infrastructure behind model training, large-scale chip design workloads, and customer programs. You'll help shape near- and long-term compute strategy, build relationships across the compute ecosystem, and drive capacity transactions from sourcing and evaluation through negotiation and close.
You'll also help structure and finance large-scale AI infrastructure and custom silicon partnerships. These are technically complex, multigeneration programs that can combine development funding, capacity commitments, commercial agreements, financing, and strategic investment. Your work will turn ambitious technology programs into executable business models, inform pricing and deal structures, and feed into Ricursive's broader go-to-market strategy.
This role is highly cross-functional. It suits someone who pairs sharp financial judgment with commercial creativity and is comfortable going deep on complex technical programs. You'll help build new transaction models and shape how a new market forms at the intersection of AI and semiconductor design.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Compute Strategy and Transactions
- Help define near- and long-term compute strategy across model training, chip design workloads, and customer programs
- Build and manage relationships with cloud platforms, GPU providers, data center operators, hardware companies, infrastructure investors, and financing partners
- Maintain a pipeline of compute capacity aligned with Ricursive's technical roadmap
- Execute compute transactions end to end: sourcing, diligence, financial evaluation, negotiation, structuring, and close
- Translate technical requirements for compute, networking, storage, deployment timing, and reliability into commercial agreements
- Evaluate opportunities on cost, availability, utilization, technical performance, counterparty risk, and strategic value
- Track market dynamics, including capacity availability, pricing, provider economics, hardware roadmaps, and emerging commercial structures
Strategic Finance for Partnerships and Go-to-Market
- Help structure large-scale AI infrastructure and custom silicon partnerships spanning multiple development and product generations
- Translate technical roadmaps into business models, financial plans, commercial terms, and executable deal structures
- Design creative transaction structures that may include development funding, capacity commitments, licensing, milestone payments, strategic investment, equity, or warrants
- Build and pressure-test financial models for capital-intensive infrastructure and silicon programs
- Help shape pricing, packaging, and commercial models for strategic customer engagements
- Contribute to go-to-market strategy, including target customers, partnership models, positioning, and the path from initial validation to multigeneration programs
- Support commercial negotiations with senior executives, corporate development teams, investors, financial institutions, and strategic partners
- Coordinate across leadership, technical, finance, and legal teams to align on economics, risk, and priorities
- Support broader corporate finance and strategic initiatives as Ricursive scales
Minimum Qualifications
- 3-6+ years in strategic finance, investment banking, private equity, infrastructure investing, corporate development, or a related principal role
- Experience structuring and executing complex, high-value commercial, financing, infrastructure, or technology transactions
- Strong financial modeling skills, with the ability to assess long-term economics, capital requirements, risk, and return
- Proven ability to translate technical or operational programs into clear commercial and financial structures
- Strong commercial judgment, negotiation skills, and executive-level communication
- Ability to manage multiple transactions and initiatives at once in a fast-moving environment
- Interest in AI infrastructure, semiconductor design, and the economics of frontier technology
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in AI compute, cloud infrastructure, data centers, semiconductors, or other capital-intensive technology sectors
- Direct experience negotiating compute-capacity, infrastructure, custom silicon, or multiyear technology-development agreements
- Familiarity with the technical and financial requirements of large-scale GPU infrastructure
- Experience developing pricing models, partnership structures, or go-to-market strategies for emerging technology categories
- Track record of building trusted relationships with senior executives, investors, financial institutions, and technically sophisticated counterparties
- Comfort operating where market structures, business models, and transaction standards are still being defined
- Excitement about helping build a strategic function from the ground up and shaping Ricursive's long-term trajectory
