Sundial Bolsters AI Leadership with Key Hire Derek Chen, Seeks Bay Area AI Engineers

Palo Alto, California – Sundial, the AI-powered analytics platform founded by former Meta executives, has announced the strategic addition of Derek Chen, a prominent AI researcher and former founder, to lead its artificial intelligence initiatives. This move coincides with the company's active recruitment for Bay Area-based AI engineers, signaling a significant push to advance its data analysis capabilities.

Julie Zhuo, Co-founder of Sundial and former Head of Design at Facebook, publicly welcomed Chen via a tweet, stating, > "This is @derekchen14--AI researcher, former founder + PM, and data nerd--on his second day at @TeamSundial, dropping AI knowledge on a perfect California afternoon." Zhuo's post further emphasized the company's immediate hiring needs, adding, > "Derek really really wants to work with another incredible Bay Area engineer looking to reinvent data analysis with AI. Ideally you've worked in industry before and have ML experience. Is this you? My DMs are open!"

Derek Chen brings a wealth of experience to Sundial, having previously served as a founder at Soleda AI, a platform focused on building trustworthy AI agents for data cleaning and analysis. His academic background includes research at Columbia University, where he specialized in data augmentation, few-shot learning, and task-oriented dialogue systems, with publications in leading NLP conferences. This expertise aligns directly with Sundial's mission to develop an AI-native analytics stack.

Sundial, co-founded by Zhuo and Chandra Narayanan (former Chief Data Scientist at Sequoia and ex-Facebook/Instagram analytics leader), recently secured $23 million in a Series A funding round. This investment, led by DJ Patil at GPV and supported by firms like Sequoia Capital, underscores the market's confidence in Sundial's vision to transform data-informed decision-making. The company aims to provide a unified platform that simplifies complex data analysis, moving beyond traditional dashboards to deliver actionable insights.

The recruitment drive for experienced Bay Area engineers with machine learning backgrounds highlights Sundial's commitment to leveraging cutting-edge AI to redefine data analysis. By integrating top-tier AI talent like Chen, Sundial seeks to accelerate the development of its platform, which is already trusted by fast-growing companies, including OpenAI. The focus remains on enabling businesses to make faster, more informed decisions by converting raw data into clear, actionable intelligence.