Strategic Finance, Summer Associate

About Roundtable

Roundtable is building the proof-of-human layer for the internet: technology that distinguishes real people from increasingly sophisticated AI-driven bots. We turn cutting-edge behavioral research into production systems for bot detection, fraud prevention, and continuous identity and access management.

Roundtable was founded in 2023 by two Princeton scientists: Mayank Agrawal and Matt Hardy. They have published in Science, PNAS, Nature Human Behaviour, and Psychological Review and are backed by Y Combinator and Brickyard Ventures.

This is a rare opportunity to work at the intersection of frontier ML research, venture capital, and federal funding.

The Role

We're looking for an exceptional MBA summer associate to work directly with the CEO on two core priorities:

1. Securing non-dilutive funding through federal and foundation grants
2. Securing one to multiple early-stage venture capital term sheets

What You'll Do

Grant Strategy & Execution. Identify grant opportunities across federal agencies (e.g. NSF SBIR/STTR, AFWERX, DARPA, DHS, NIH, NIST) and private foundations. Own the application lifecycle: translate research into proposals, build budgets, manage federal registrations and submission timelines.

Fundraising & Investor Operations. Build term sheets, decks, models, and data rooms. Develop a prioritized investor target list with warm-intro mapping through our YC, Princeton, and academic networks. Coordinate outreach, prep founders for meetings, manage follow-up.

Research → Market Translation. Position our technology against competitors (Google reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile, hCaptcha, HUMAN Security, BioCatch) and translate research into investor and grant narratives.

Who You Are

• MBA candidate (Class of 2027 or 2028) with experience in VC, IB, growth equity, or strategic finance
• Strong writing and financial modeling skills
• High agency and comfort with ambiguity

Bonus:

• Experience with federal grant applications (e.g. SBIR/STTR, NSF, DoD, NIH)
• Technical background (e.g. CS, statistics, cognitive science) that lets you engage with ML research

We actively support applications to school-sponsored startup stipend programs (e.g. Stanford GSB ESIP, HBS Rock Center, Wharton Venture Lab) and will provide any documentation your program requires.

Duration: 10 to 12 weeks
Equity: Contingent on performance from 0 to 0.15%