Strategic Finance & Compute Lead

Ricursive Intelligence • Palo Alto, CA

3d

About The Position

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
We are building a new category at the intersection of AI, compute, and silicon. Doing so requires both significant compute infrastructure and a new generation of technically complex, multiyear partnerships with leading technology companies. As Strategic Finance & Compute Lead, you will help define and execute Ricursive’s compute, partnership, and go-to-market strategy.
You will lead Ricursive’s near- and long-term compute strategy, securing the infrastructure required for model training, large-scale chip-design workloads, and customer programs. You will build relationships across the compute ecosystem and lead capacity transactions from sourcing and evaluation through negotiation and close.
You will also structure and finance large-scale AI infrastructure and custom silicon partnerships. These are technically complex, multigeneration programs that may combine development funding, capacity commitments, commercial agreements, financing, and strategic investment. Working closely with Ricursive’s founders and technical leaders, you will translate ambitious technology programs into executable business models, shape pricing and partnership structures, and help craft the company’s broader go-to-market strategy.
This is a highly cross-functional role for someone who combines financial judgment, commercial creativity, and an ability to understand complex technical programs. You will have the opportunity to build new transaction models and help define how a new market develops at the intersection of AI and semiconductor design.

Requirements

• 3-6+ years of experience 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 and the ability to evaluate long-term economics, capital requirements, risk, and return across complex agreements
• Demonstrated ability to translate technical or operational programs into clear commercial and financial structures
• Strong commercial judgment, negotiation skills, and executive-level communication
• Ability to independently manage multiple transactions and strategic initiatives in a fast-moving environment
• Interest in AI infrastructure, semiconductor design, and the evolving economics of frontier technology

Nice To Haves

• Experience with 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 new pricing models, partnership structures, or go-to-market strategies for emerging technology categories
• Track record of building relationships with senior executives, investors, financial institutions, and technically sophisticated counterparties
• Comfort operating where market structures, business models, and transaction standards are still being established
• Desire to build a strategic function alongside Ricursive’s founders and help shape the company’s long-term trajectory

Responsibilities

• Define Ricursive’s 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
• Develop and maintain a pipeline of compute capacity aligned with Ricursive’s technical roadmap
• Lead compute transactions from sourcing and diligence through financial evaluation, negotiation, structuring, and close
• Partner with technical teams to translate requirements for compute, networking, storage, deployment timing, and reliability into commercial agreements
• Evaluate opportunities across cost, availability, utilization, technical performance, counterparty risk, and strategic value
• Develop market intelligence on capacity availability, pricing, provider economics, hardware roadmaps, and evolving commercial structures
• 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 partnership structures
• Develop creative transaction structures involving 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
• Shape Ricursive’s pricing, packaging, and commercial models across strategic customer engagements
• Help define Ricursive’s go-to-market strategy, including target customers, partnership models, market positioning, and paths from initial validation to multigeneration programs
• Lead commercial negotiations with senior executives, corporate development teams, investors, financial institutions, and strategic partners
• Drive internal alignment across leadership, technical, finance, and legal teams on economics, risk, and strategic priorities
• Support broader corporate finance and strategic initiatives as Ricursive scales

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed