Head of AI

The posting, as Osmo wrote it

WHO WE ARE AT OSMO

Osmo is the Olfactory Intelligence company, on a mission to give AI a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell has the ability to delight us, protect us, and heal us.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone.

We're headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ, with an additional office in Somerville, MA. We provide complimentary shuttle service from Brooklyn and Newark, NJ.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Osmo is building the first computer that can smell. Olfactory Intelligence (OI) is the model suite behind that: it predicts how a molecule or a mixture will smell, generates new formulas from a creative brief, and now powers commercial products for some of the largest consumer goods companies in the world. It runs on 5.4M+ human sniff annotations, 100M+ mass spectral readings, and a molecule library in the billions, data no one else has.

We are hiring a Head of Applied AI to own the team that builds these models. You will lead the ML engineers and research scientists, set the roadmap and the quality bar, and own the path from research notebook to production API. You will report to the CTO and work daily with Software Platform, Product Engineering, Chemistry, Sensory Science, and the perfumers and evaluators who are the ground truth for every prediction. This is a hands-on leadership seat at a company of roughly 100 people. You will read the code, run experiments, and be held to hard contractual accuracy gates with enterprise partners.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Lead the OI Team — Hire, level, and grow ML engineers and research scientists across formulation, prediction, and generative models, and set the review standards they work under.
• Set Model Roadmap — Decide what we double down on, retire, or merge across brief-to-formula generation, reformulation and cost optimization, molecule generation, deformulation, odor prediction, and per-customer property models.
• Own the Benchmarks — Run the OI benchmark suite, including internal quality gates, contractual acceptance criteria, and the model cards that go to customers and investors, so "is this model better?" gets a fast, credible answer.
• Deliver Enterprise Commitments — Be accountable for contractual model deliverables with hard accuracy gates and quarterly dates, and say early and clearly when a target is out of reach.
• Run the Data Flywheel — Work with Sensory Science and Fragrance Development to design experiments, define annotation protocols, and set the KPIs that turn panel time into model gains.
• Ship to Production — Partner with Software Platform and Product Engineering to move models from research to a reliable production API, with versioning, monitoring, and drift handled.
• Stay Hands-On — Read diffs, challenge

[…]
idays, and commuter benefits. Eligible roles also receive equity, which is subject to the terms of the equity plan and board approval and is not guaranteed. Applicants and employees may ask about and discuss their pay without retaliation.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Osmo is an equal opportunity employer. We hire, develop, and promote based on skills, experience, and potential, without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, nationality, ancestry, citizenship status, age, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related conditions, gender identity or expression, transgender status, sexual orientation, marital, civil union, or domestic partnership status, familial or caregiver status, disability, genetic information, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, military or veteran status, liability for military service, hair texture or protective hairstyle, arrest or conviction record consistent with applicable law, unemployment status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. This commitment covers every part of employment, including hiring, job assignment, compensation, discipline, benefits, and training.

Accommodations: If you need an accommodation to apply or interview, tell us at accomodations@osmo.ai. Your request is confidential and will not affect how we evaluate you. Please reach out before your first interview so we can plan with you.

Recruiting & Staffing Agencies: Osmo does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies. Please do not send resumes to Osmo employees or any Osmo address. Osmo is not responsible for fees on unsolicited submissions unless the Talent Acquisition team has engaged you directly in writing.

Work authorization: Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Each posting states whether visa sponsorship for employment is available for that role. All new hires must complete identity and employment eligibility verification (Form I-9) after an offer is accepted.