Founding Strategic Projects Lead

Job Description

Job Description

San Francisco, CA · On-site · Full-time
Compensation: $120,000–$200,000 base + 5% commission on project margin (uncapped) + 0.5%–1.5% founding-tier equity

About the Company

An early-stage, YC-backed startup providing voice data and enterprise data to frontier AI labs. The voice side runs a contributor network across 15 countries with particular strength in Japanese and Arabic; the enterprise side partners with products and licenses real company data to build rich, real-world RL environments rather than synthetic ones. ~$4M raised and ~$1M ARR, working with leading voice and frontier labs.

Founded 2025 · 1–10 people (Seed) · Industry: AI Tools / AI data

The Role

Own delivery for frontier-lab projects end-to-end as the company's first operations hire — working directly with labs, managing contributors, building delivery ops from the ground up, and sourcing rare data through creative channels when standard playbooks won't work. You'd represent a meaningful share of a very small team from day one, with a fast path to Senior SPL or GM as delivery scales.

What you'll be doing

• Deliver multiple datasets to frontier AI labs end-to-end (source, qualify, manage contributors, ship).
• Build delivery ops from scratch: processes, contributor management, quality control.
• Get creative on hard sources: rare languages, niche audio (people talking to AI agents), regulated data.
• Leverage and grow the company's contributor network and partner products.
• Manage commission economics: 5% margin on each project, directly tied to delivery quality and speed.

Requirements

• 0-5 years, high slope, some human data experience
• Detail-oriented, ops-from-zero executor
• Creative sourcing: rare languages, niche audio
• $120-200K base + 5% commission uncapped
• 5.5 days a week, SF in-person
• Relocation supported from NY or LA

Green Flags

• Prior experience at a human data company (Mercor especially, plus Surge, Scale, Turing, Micro1, Scalar AI Labs).
• Statistics, data science, or technical major.
• Creative sourcing track record: has personally built unconventional pipelines (Facebook group recruiting, partner negotiation, niche language networks).
• Equity-first mindset
• Personable and fun.

Red Flags

• Too senior
• Dishonesty or any history of being dishonest in a prior role
• Money-first motivation over building / equity.
• Cannot source creatively. Anyone who needs a defined playbook to operate will not deliver in this role.
• Not willing to be in SF in-person 5.5 days a week (or relocate from NY/LA).

Why Join

• First operations hire with founding-tier ownership and a fast path to Senior SPL or GM.
• Uncapped commission on project margin plus founding equity, on top of a competitive base.
• YC-backed with live revenue and frontier-lab customers.
• Genuinely creative work — sourcing rare-language audio and novel data, not running a standard marketplace.

Details

• Location: San Francisco, CA
• Work policy: On-site, 5.5 days/week; relocation supported from NY or LA
• Compensation: $120,000–$200,000 base + 5% commission (uncapped) + 0.5%–1.5% equity
• Visa sponsorship: None available
• Employment type: Full-time