---
title: 'Senior Director of Product Management, Materials Discovery at SandboxAQ'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-of-product-management-materials-discovery-sandboxaq-united-mvs90vtqap3c'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-16'
---

# Senior Director of Product Management, Materials Discovery at SandboxAQ

- **Company:** SandboxAQ
- **Location:** United States
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-08-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-16
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sandboxaq/35fd6553-0dde-4e68-a757-20f7de5a1567

## Job description

## About SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors. We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders. At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.

The Opportunity SandboxAQ’s AI Simulation (AISim) division develops and applies Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) that are grounded in physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology to simulate molecular behavior with scientific precision and accelerate discovery in the physical world across biopharma, chemicals, advanced materials, healthcare, and so much more.

The AISim division is seeking an exceptional Senior Director of Product Management to own the strategy, roadmap, and commercial trajectory of the ChemSim business — SandboxAQ's AI-driven materials discovery platform. This is a dual-mandate leadership role: in the near term, this leader will be the primary product driver for SandboxAQ's $500M CHIPS Act R&D award from the U.S. Department of Commerce, ensuring the team delivers against the program's contractual milestone gates across four critical-material verticals — Catalysis, Batteries, Magnets, and PFAS Replacements. In parallel, this leader will build the commercial foundation that transforms ChemSim from a government-funded R&D program into a product-led growth business generating durable, recurring revenue from the broader materials discovery market.

Reporting to the Vice President of Product, this leader will manage a team of 4 PM ICs — one per contracted vertical — while partnering closely with the Senior Director of Platform PM in a two-in-a-box model. Beyond the CHIPS mandate, they will own the ChemSim go-to-market strategy, pricing and packaging, and expansion into adjacent verticals including oil and gas, energy, specialty chemicals, and advanced manufacturing. This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to shape a category-defining AI platform for materials science at the intersection of national security, scientific discovery, and commercial scale.

## Key Responsibilities

- Own the end-to-end ChemSim product strategy, vision, and roadmap — spanning CHIPS Act contractual deliverables, vertical platform depth, and commercial expansion into new markets.
- Hire, develop, and lead a team of 3-4 PM ICs across the Catalysis, Batteries, PFAS, and Magnets verticals — driving key deliverables personally until the team is fully ramped.
- Partner with the Senior Director of PM, Core Platform in a two-in-a-box model to define, prioritize, and sequence the platform capabilities required to support ChemSim's contractual and commercial milestones.
- Own the ChemSim commercial strategy: define the go-to-market approach, pricing and packaging model, and customer segmentation for semiconductor ecosystem customers and expansion verticals (oil and gas, energy, specialty chemicals, advanced manufacturing).
- Build and manage strategic partner relationships at the product level — with fabs, equipment OEMs, chemical suppliers, national laboratories, and manufacturing partners — translating partner requirements into platform and vertical product features.
- Establish a data-driven operating rhythm: define the metrics that matter across both contract performance (validated MVP candidates, dataset quality, workflow adoption) and commercial KPIs (ARR, net revenue retention, expansion pipeline), and drive course corrections against OKRs.
- Develop and defend build-vs-buy and build-vs-partner decisions for domain-specific scientific engines, LQMs, and validation tooling across ChemSim verticals.
- Serve as the primary product voice to DOC/CRDO program stakeholders, semiconductor ecosystem partners, and prospective commercial customers for ChemSim.

Essential Skills & Experience

- 10+ years in product management, including 5+ years managing teams of individual contributors.
- Strong domain expertise in materials science, chemistry, chemical engineering, or an adjacent scientific discipline — sufficient to engage credibly with computational scientists, experimental validation partners, and domain SMEs.
- Track record shipping AI/ML-driven scientific or engineering platform products at enterprise scale, including experience with multi-tenant SaaS, API governance, and enterprise security and compliance.
- Experience building and executing B2B go-to-market strategy for technical software — including pricing, packaging, sales motion definition, and expansion into new verticals.
- Comfort navigating deep ambiguity: translating unclear scientific and customer problems into structured roadmaps, success criteria, and measurable outcomes.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
- MBA, or equivalent business leadership and P&L experience.

Highly Desired Skills & Experience

- Experience in or deep familiarity with ChemSim's target commercial verticals: semiconductor manufacturing, oil and gas, energy storage, specialty chemicals, or advanced manufacturing.
- Prior experience engaging with semiconductor ecosystem partners — fabs, equipment OEMs, chemical suppliers — at the product or business development level.
- Track record building product-led growth motions for technical or scientific software platforms, including community-driven adoption, developer/scientist self-serve, and land-and-expand commercial models.
- Physically located in the Greater Seattle Metropolitan area or SF Bay Area
- Experience working on U.S. government R&D programs — CHIPS Act, DARPA, DOE, or equivalent — including familiarity with milestone-gated funding structures and Fulfillment/compliance processes.

Why Join Us? We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work.

- Career Defining Work: Your work will directly accelerate the discovery of better drugs and better materials, advance human health, and enable safer and more sustainable technologies by helping customers put AI Simulation capabilities into real world use.
- Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.
- Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.
- Work-Life Balance: Fully remote, Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.
- Learning and Growth: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.

SandboxAQ Welcomes All We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges. Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know. Read: [Guidance for candidates on using AI Tools in interviews](https://www.sandboxaq.com/ai-in-interviews)

## About SandboxAQ

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: SandboxAQ develops Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) that combine AI and quantum techniques to solve real-world challenges in drug discovery, materials, navigation, cybersecurity, and other high-impact sectors.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Late Stage; raised $1.6B total, including Series E, venture rounds, and grants)
- **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2021 (spun out from Alphabet in 2022)
- **Founders**: Jack Hidary (CEO); Eric Schmidt serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors

## Core Business
- **Primary Industries**: AI/Quantum software, life sciences (drug discovery), cybersecurity, financial services, navigation/defense, materials science
- **Target Customers**: B2B, serving large enterprises and government organizations in pharma, energy, defense, finance, and logistics
- **Mission**: Revolutionize industries with groundbreaking solutions at the intersection of AI and quantum technology

## Products & Services
- **AQBioSim**: AI simulation platform for accelerating molecular design and reducing failure rates in drug discovery (SaaS)
- **LQMs for Cybersecurity**: Cryptography management and quantum-safe security solutions (e.g., post-quantum cryptography, key management)
- **AI Navigation & Sensing**: Precise positioning and navigation systems resistant to jamming/spoofing, leveraging AI and quantum sensors (SaaS + hardware integration)
- **Materials & Chemistry Modeling**: LQMs that predict atomic-level properties to unlock new compounds for chemicals and materials (SaaS)
- **Financial Services LQMs**: Models for risk analysis, portfolio optimization, and fraud detection (SaaS)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed; total funding reached $1.6 billion
- **Key Metric**: Total Funding: $1.6B (13 rounds); Annual Revenue (estimated): $9M (via disclosed financial data)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: T. Rowe Price, Eric Schmidt, Breyer Capital, Guggenheim Partners, Marc Benioff, Thomas Tull, Paladin Capital Group, Nvidia (backed via grant/award)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Headcount: ~296 employees (+10.6% YoY)
  - Operating in 16 countries (US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, etc.)
  - Acquired Good Chemistry (Jan 2024) and Cryptosense (Sep 2022) to expand capabilities
  - Recent funding: $95M venture round (July 2025), additional private equity round (Feb 2026)
  - US government awarded $500M (Nvidia-backed) for finding new outcomes (likely defense/pharma contract)
  - Recognized with multiple industry awards (Fierce Innovator in Life Sciences 2025, Wash100 Award, etc.)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Quantitative AI (LQMs)**: Models that understand the physical world (molecules, materials, navigation) – distinct from purely data-driven LLMs
- **Alphabet Spinout Heritage**: Foundational technology and talent from Google’s parent company
- **Multidisciplinary Team**: Physicists, chemists, cryptographers, AI researchers – rare combination
- **Strong Government & Enterprise Ties**: Direct contracts with US defense and pharma, plus deep investor network
- **Integrated Portfolio**: One platform covering simulation, cybersecurity, and sensing – creating cross-selling opportunities

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale LQM Applications**: Expand from drug discovery into climate, energy, and defense
- **Deepen Government Partnerships**: Capitalize on $500M US award and develop mission-critical navigation/security systems
- **Build Ecosystem**: Open APIs and partnerships with cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Databricks) to embed LQMs into existing workflows
- **Talent Acquisition**: Aggressively hiring ML engineers, computational chemists, and research scientists to maintain technical lead

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Emphasizes inclusion, service leadership, and fearlessness. Described as “the most humble player in the AQ industry” with a growth mindset.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Flexible work environment; home office stipend and connectivity stipend provided; regular offsites for collaboration.
- **Benefits**: Best-in-class medical, dental, vision; 100% paid maternity/paternity leave; 401k with company match; wellness stipend; learning & development programs; flexible time off including winter break and volunteering days.
- **Engineering Culture**: Hands-on work at the frontier of AI and quantum; cross-disciplinary teams (physics, chemistry, neuroscience, cryptography); opportunity to publish research and attend conferences.
- **Growth Opportunities**: Residency program for early-career scientists; stock options; clear career progression in a fast-growing late-stage startup.

## Sources
1. [sandboxaq.com](https://www.sandboxaq.com/)
2. [sandboxaq.com/company/about-us](https://www.sandboxaq.com/company/about-us)
3. [sandboxaq.com/careers](https://www.sandboxaq.com/careers)
4. [linkedin.com/company/sandboxaq](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sandboxaq)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/sandboxaq](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sandboxaq)

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