Data Procurement & Operations Lead

Our founding team pioneered Latent Diffusion and Stable Diffusion - breakthroughs that made generative AI accessible to millions. Today, our FLUX models power creative tools, design workflows, and products across industries worldwide.

Our FLUX models are best-in-class not only for their capability, but for ease of use in developing production applications. We top public benchmarks and compete at the frontier - and in most instances we're winning.

If you're relentlessly curious and driven by high agency, we want to talk.

With a team of ~50, we move fast and punch above our weight. From our labs in Freiburg - a university town in the Black Forest - and San Francisco, we're building what comes next.

What You'll Pioneer

We're looking for a Data Procurement & Operations Lead to tackle the end-to-end strategy and execution of data acquisition to build the future of visual intelligence. This role sits at the intersection of AI research, procurement, and operations—you'll work closely with our technical teams to understand what data we need, then figure out how to get it quickly and at scale.

This is a zero-to-one role requiring technical depth to understand what makes high-quality training data for visual intelligence AI systems, but your focus will be on strategy and execution rather than hands-on engineering. It is a high-impact role in a fast-moving market. The right person will get excited about the challenge of identifing and scaling quality data for image and video models - someone who can think strategically about data needs for model capabilities, build the right partnerships, and execute flawlessly. If you thrive at the intersection of technical depth and operational excellence, we'd love to hear from you.

You'll be the person who:

• Drive data procurement strategies for AI models
• Partner with technical teams to translate technical requirements into procurement and operational frameworks, identifying gaps and opportunities across different data modalities
• Build data collection and evaluation systems through internal tools, vendor partnerships, and new approaches
• Identify, evaluate, and manage data suppliers including data vendors, stock media providers, specialized contractors, and direct content licensors
• Negotiate agreements that enable rapid pilot purchases with options to scale
• Manage a portfolio of data sources
• Develop evaluation frameworks to ensure data meets technical requirements
• Establish metrics and reporting for data operations (acquisition velocity, cost efficiency, quality scores, coverage against taxonomy)

Who Thrives Here

You likely have:

• 4+ years of experience in operations, procurement, or entrepreneurial experience building from zero to scale
• Strong understanding of how data impacts generative AI model performance
• Have strong communication skills and can effectively engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience negotiating contracts and managing vendor relationships
• Excellent organizational skills with ability to manage multiple work streams and priorities
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to build from scratch
• Strong analytical skills and familiarity with data quality assessment

We'd be especially excited if you have:

• Experience specifically with image, video, or multimodal data
• Familiarity with the generative AI landscape and key players
• Experience building marketplaces or communities and fostering user contributions
• Background in media licensing or content acquisition
• Experience at an early-stage startup or in a role requiring significant autonomy
• Network of relationships with data providers, content licensors, or media companies

What We're Building Toward

BFL is building towards the future of visual intelligence. This role will build the foundation that determines how BFL succeeds. Every process you design becomes how we operate. Every metric you define shapes what we optimize for. Every bottleneck you remove accelerates our growth. If that sounds compelling, let’s talk.

Salary range for SF based role : 165K - 230K base depending on profile + equity