Role Overview

Surge is hiring a Forward Deployed Researcher to work directly with leading AI labs and frontier model teams. You will evaluate model behavior in real-world and deployment settings, identify failure modes, and design interventions to improve model performance and reliability.

The role combines hands-on research, experimentation and close collaboration with external AI labs and internal teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and conduct evaluations to assess model generalization and behavior under deployment constraints.

• Identify and investigate model failure modes.

• Build data pipelines, fine-tuning workflows and interventions to improve or steer model outputs.

• Work with internal stakeholders and external AI labs to operationalize custom frontier model use cases.

• Investigate challenges involving long-context reasoning, tool use and real-time feedback loops.

• Translate research findings into actionable insights for model development and deployment.

What We're Looking For

• Strong curiosity about how AI models reason, generalize and fail in complex real-world applications.

• Strong research and experimental design skills, particularly in ambiguous environments.

• Ability to generate useful insights from experimentation.

• Customer-focused approach and willingness to work closely with external partners.

• Ability to understand partner goals and develop solutions that deliver meaningful impact.

• Comfortable with rapid iteration and real-world complexity.