Head of AI

Who we are at Osmo:

Osmo is a digital olfaction company on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

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.

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

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.

• 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 eval design and run experiments yourself.

• Make Hard Cuts Kill good work to make room for essential work and explain the call with kindness and clarity.

• Partner Across Osmo Work daily with Chemistry perfumers and evaluators so model output is grounded in what people actually smell.

• Own the Bar Define what excellent applied ML looks like at Osmo and hold the team and yourself to it.

• Seasoned Applied ML Leader 10 years of industry ML/AI experience in an applied or research capacity with models shipped to real users not only papers or prototypes.

• Proven People Leader You have managed hired leveled and grown ML engineers or research scientists. Team lead experience with real ownership counts; we care about substance over title.

• Deep in Your Craft Depth in at least one of: generative models over structured or discrete objects molecular or chemical ML multi-modal representation learning LLM systems and evaluation or Bayesian and experimental design. Breadth across several is a strong plus.

• Rigorous on Evaluation You ask what the baseline is whether the test set leaked and whether the metric moved for the reason everyone assumes.

• Production Minded You have owned models in production and know what versioning monitoring drift and on-call actually cost.

• Curious About Hard Data You are energized by small noisy expensive data and by getting the most out of hard-won human perceptual labels rather than internet-scale ones.

• Tenacious and Kind You hold a high bar and stay with hard problems and you lead the team with candor and care.

• Hands-On You still read diffs and run experiments. At a company this size a leader who cant do the work cant lead it.

• Hybrid schedule 3 days a week in the Elizabeth NJ office

• Science Background Chemistry chemoinformatics sensory science or biology experience.

• External Deliverables Experience in an enterprise or contract-research setting where you owned model deliverables for outside partners.

• Built the Foundation Experience standing up an ML platform or eval infrastructure from scratch.

• Real Growth Path Report directly to the CTO and own the full OI applied ML organization with room to grow scope as OI and its enterprise partnerships expand.

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity in a high-growth company

• Flexible PTO and paid family leave

• 401(k) savings plan and employer match

• Commuter benefits (pre-tax transit and parking)

• Catered Lunch Mon/Wed/Fri; Newark NJ and Brooklyn shuttles

If this role inspires you wed encourage you to apply. We are committed to recruiting developing and retaining an incredible team optimized for a diversity of thought background and approaches.

Every posting lists the pay range and benefits for that role. Where you land in the range depends on skills experience scope and internal equity. Full time employees receive a total rewards package that includes medical dental and vision coverage a healthcare FSA a 401(k) with company match flexible paid time off paid family leave company holidays 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 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.

Required Experience:

Director