Primary
venture capital
ResearchFellow,AICompute
Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Mid candidates.
“Research Fellow, AI Compute at Primary. Skills: AI compute demand, hardware architecture trends, quantitative modeling, market analysis. Develop a rigorous, data-backed view on AI compute demand and the hardware architecture trends shaping it. Keep that view current as the market evolves”
What You'll Achieve.
deliver exceptional support to the founders of transformational businesses; feed live, high-stakes investment decisions; become an ongoing intelligence function for the firm
Industry & Context.
building rigorous models of complex real-world systems; run parallel investigations; build one-off tools; go deeper than a traditional research process
4 to 6 weeks of full-time consulting work
What They're Looking For.
Must Have
5+ years in a buy-side, sell-side, or independent research role covering AI infrastructure, semiconductors, or hyperscaler markets, research background in economics or a quantitative field with a track record of building rigorous models of complex real-world systems, AI-Native: Claude or equivalent tools are already central to how you do research, Fluent on the substance: comfortable with the economics of inference at scale, the difference between prefill and decode, why agentic workloads place different demands on hardware than traditional ones, and how those distinctions shape which architectures win
What You'll Do.
data-backed view on AI compute demand and the hardware architecture trends shaping it
Keep that view current as the market evolves
Build a view on the demand environment
Develop a granular model of how hyperscalers and frontier labs are actually deciding to deploy the next wave of hardware capex
Track allocated megawatt capacity across the major buyers
Track commitments already in place to specific hardware providers
Track the gap between contractually locked spending and speculative buildout
Track supply chain and macroeconomic factors that constrain it (permitting timelines
HBM and TSMC capacity
project-level financing)
Build a view on the hardware architecture competitive landscape
Develop a clear view on what's actually driving demand
Analyze how demand is likely to shift over the next 18 to 24 months
Analyze how the workload landscape is likely to sort out across competing architectures
Stand up a set of agents to ingest relevant data continuously with your judgment layered on top
Meet with the Select team on a regular cadence to flag what's changed and what it means
How You'll Work.
Team & Collaboration
Work directly with Partner Brian Schechter and the Select team; Meet with the Select team on a regular cadence
Full Job Description
ABOUT PRIMARY Primary is a seed-stage venture capital firm dedicated to delivering exceptional support to the founders of transformational businesses. By pairing meaningful investment resources with the largest portfolio impact team of any seed investor, our portfolio companies have reached an industry-best seed-to-A graduation rate. The Select team manages Primary's follow-on investment strategy, deploying additional capital into our highest-conviction portfolio companies. Select diligence depends on a deep, independent view of the markets our companies operate in. ABOUT THE ROLE Primary's Select team is looking for a Research Fellow to develop a rigorous, data-backed view on AI compute demand and the hardware architecture trends shaping it, and to keep that view current as the market evolves. The work feeds live, high-stakes investment decisions, and over time becomes an ongoing intelligence function for the firm. Primary has been investing behind a clear compute thesis since early 2023: every major technology shift requires a rebuild of its underlying infrastructure, and the AI compute buildout is creating rare openings for first-principles entrants across silicon, memory, networking, and beyond. Our portfolio includes Etched https://www.etched.com/, Atero https://www.crusoe.ai/... (acquired by Crusoe), Haiqu https://haiqu.ai/, and several more in stealth. You will work directly with Partner Brian Schechter https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-schechter-1822ba16/ and the Select team. The engagement is 4 to 6 weeks of full-time consulting work, with the option to continue on retainer. WHAT YOU'LL DO Build a view on the demand environment. Develop a granular model of how hyperscalers and frontier labs are actually deciding to deploy the next wave of hardware capex. Track allocated megawatt capacity across the major buyers, the commitments already in place to specific hardware providers, the gap between contractually locked spending and speculative buildout, and the su
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