Operator-In-Residence (OIR): Agents

About The Role

Primary Labs is looking for an Operator-in-Residence (OIR) to explore the frontier of local AI and agent frameworks and turn technical breakthroughs into company opportunities. This role is open to candidates based in New York or San Francisco. This is not a traditional role. As an OIR, you will work directly with the AI Infrastructure Investment team to identify, validate, and shape new company ideas. You’ll move from exploration to conviction quickly, helping determine which technical breakthroughs can underpin venture-scale businesses.

What You’ll Do

• Continuously scan the frontier of AI research, infrastructure, and markets through deep self-study (research papers, industry publications, technical blogs, etc.) and active networking across startups, academia, and industry.
• Identify new technologies and market opportunities that can be exploited to build new startups, with a particular focus on AI agent infrastructure spanning hardware (local/edge computing, new agentic devices, etc.), software (skill management/orchestration, agent monetization frameworks, etc.), and algorithms (continual learning, context compaction, etc.).
• Develop and maintain a pipeline of hypotheses, pressure-testing them through independent research, conversations with domain experts, and internal debate with the Primary team.
• Assemble and present supporting material (documents, slide decks, memos) to industry connections and firm teammates to refine ideas; defend views with evidence while maintaining a willingness to abandon ideas that do not survive scrutiny.
• Build working prototypes rapidly to prove out initial concepts, seek early customer feedback, and iterate in tight loops.
• Develop initial business plans for the most promising opportunities, including technology architecture, product roadmap, and go-to-market strategy.
• Lead early hiring efforts to assemble the founding team.

About You

• Experience: 4+ years in a technical product or adjacent role
• Agent Native: You're already building with agents in your spare time and intuitively think in workflows, tools, and autonomous systems. You’ve shipped agents into production, have OpenClaw up and running, are familiar with local AI tools like Ollama or LM Studio, and a high level understanding of what’s capable of being deployed on your phone/Mac/Mac Mini.
• Ecosystem-Embedded: You attend technical events, have boots on the ground, and follow the frontier closely
• Self-Starter: You're hungry for autonomy and want real responsibility over what you ship and how it evolves
• Entrepreneurial: You code constantly – side projects, experiments, and late-night "what if this works?" prototypes
• Status-Aware Technologist: You're excited by the idea that agent capability - and who can wield it best - is becoming the next great competitive frontier