Research Fellow, AI Compute

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 , Atero (acquired by Crusoe), Haiqu , and several more in stealth. You will work directly with Partner Brian Schechter and the Select team. The engagement is 4 to 6 weeks of full-time consulting work, with the option to continue on retainer.

Responsibilities

• About You
• Experience: 5+ years in a buy-side, sell-side, or independent research role covering AI infrastructure, semiconductors, or hyperscaler markets. Or: a 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. You use them to run parallel investigations, build one-off tools, and work at a pace and depth a traditional process can't match.
• 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.

Additional Information

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.

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Company Intel

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