Sign up to access all features of our service.
  • Job search
  • Favorites
  • Create a CV
    New
  • Salaries
  • Subscriptions

Strategic Projects Lead

$300k
Full-time

MJL Recruiting & Consulting


On-site 5 days a week in San Francisco, CA

Total Cash Compensation: Up to $300K

No visa sponsorship

Company builds the training data and evaluation infrastructure that frontier AI labs use to improve their models. They work with all five of the world's leading AI labs to design high-signal datasets and run rigorous evaluations that go beyond static benchmarks.

One of the fastest-growing companies in their YC batch. $30M raised at a $300M valuation, backed by Y Combinator, BoxGroup, Lightspeed, Warburg Pincus, Silver Lake, and Index Ventures, with investors from Google DeepMind and Meta GenAI senior leadership. Founding team from Jane Street, Meta, Citadel Securities, Google, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Berkeley AI Research (BAIR), and Stanford AI Lab (SAIL).

About the Role

Company is seeking exceptional technical candidates to work directly with the founding team on high-priority projects spanning AI research, product development, and engineering infrastructure. One week you might be scoping a dataset generation pipeline for a frontier lab. The next you are managing a team of ML engineers through a quality control system, or interfacing directly with a research team at Anthropic or OpenAI.

The role sits at the intersection of technical execution and strategic leadership. You will own initiatives end-to-end from requirements through delivery, managing teams of experts across software engineering, data science, and machine learning. This is a founding role with significant equity upside and direct access to the people shaping the future of AI.

What You'll Own

  • Work closely with the world's leading AI labs to generate next-generation datasets that push the boundaries of AI, directly generating revenue for the company
  • Manage teams of technical experts across software engineering, data science, and machine learning on high-priority campaigns
  • Build technical infrastructure and tooling to support dataset generation, quality control, and delivery pipelines
  • Drive technical and operational initiatives end-to-end: scoping requirements, building solutions, and managing technical experts through to delivery
  • Interface directly with engineering and research teams at leading frontier AI labs
  • Support the founding team on high-priority technical projects and operational initiatives
  • Context-switch rapidly between technical execution and strategic work as priorities shift

Required Qualifications

  • Strong technical background: CS degree, engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated ability to ship technical projects
  • Eagerness to manage teams of experts for technical human data campaigns
  • Intense work ethic, agency, and drive with a competitive track record of exceptional achievement
  • Proficiency in Python and comfort writing production-quality code
  • Experience with data pipelines, APIs, or ML and AI tooling
  • Passion for AI and demonstrated interest in frontier AI research
  • Strong leadership experience and communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Ability to context-switch rapidly between technical and strategic work

Preferred Qualifications

  • Background in software engineering, ML engineering, AI research, or computer science
  • Experience at a top tech company, FAANG, frontier AI lab, or quantitative trading firm
  • Prior startup experience or founding experience
  • Willingness to work long hours and weekends when projects demand it
Vacancy posted 2 days ago
Similar jobs that could be interesting for youBased on the Strategic Projects Lead in San Francisco, CA vacancy
  • $121.6k - $190k

    Scale’s Generative AI business unit is currently seeing historic levels of growth. As a Strategic Projects Lead (SPL), you will leading initiatives that will drive $XXM+ in new revenue for the business. This is a demanding role, and as an SPL, you should be prepared to... 
    Suggested
    Full time

    Scale AI

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • $150k - $300k

     ...frontier of AI and have raised $60M in Series C funding from Wellington Management, CRV, Next47 and Y Combinator.The roleAs a Strategic Projects Lead, you'll fully own and optimize the data annotation and machine learning workflows behind Encord's largest client... 
    Suggested

    Encord

    San Francisco, CA
    6 days ago
  •  ...valuable for robotics and physical AI training. We’re working with leading frontier labs to create the highest-quality, highest-...  ...human advantage in the robotics revolution, and the Instawork Strategic Projects Lead will be at the center of this cutting-edge data... 
    Suggested
    Hourly pay
    Work experience placement
    Local area
    Shift work

    Instawork

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • $150k - $250k

     ...YCombinator (S25) and raised a seed round to scale their team and support growth. Role Description Halluminate is looking to hire a Strategic Projects Lead (focused in Financial Services) to own and lead the development of frontier training gyms for finance verticals. Ideal... 
    Suggested
    Full time
    For contractors

    Halluminate (YC S25)

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  •  ...oversubscribed seed round led by top-tier VCs. What You'll Do Lead cross-functional projects spanning engineering, operations, and go-to-market. Own end-to-end execution of RL Environments delivery for strategic customers and projects. Report progress directly to the... 
    Suggested

    MangoDesk

    San Francisco, CA
    22 hours ago
  •  ...About the job Strategic Projects Lead About the Company Our client is an AI-native, two-sided marketplace platform building the infrastructure for on-demand human capability. They connect enterprise organizations needing specialized domain expertise for AI... 

    Success Matcher Recruitment

    San Francisco, CA
    22 hours ago
  •  ...to operate safely and autonomously. We work with the world's leading model labs to push the frontier of agent capabilities. We've...  ...investors & angels. About the role As a Founding Strategic Projects Lead, you will work on some of Polymath's highest-leverage initiatives... 
    Work at office

    Polymath AI Labs

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  •  ...Strategic Projects Lead San Francisco, CA About Us Metriport is an open-source data intelligence platform that helps healthcare organizations access and exchange patient data in real-time. We integrate with all major US healthcare IT systems and tap into comprehensive... 
    Work at office
    Work from home
    Relocation
    Flexible hours
    Night shift

    Metriport

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  •  ...Reducto Reducto is the agentic document platform for leading AI teams who demand enterprise performance at scale. We provide...  ...Round Capital. Role Summary Reducto is hiring a Strategic Projects Lead to be the GTN team's highest-leverage operator. This role... 
    Work at office
    Local area
    Shift work

    Reducto, Inc.

    San Francisco, CA
    22 hours ago
  •  ...Handshake AI supports all of the frontier AI labs, working on their most complex data at the largest scale. The Role As a Strategic Projects Lead (SPL), you will own the execution of large-scale human data programs that directly power frontier AI model training and... 
    Full time
    Work at office
    Remote work
    Flexible hours

    Handshake

    San Francisco, CA
    22 hours ago
  • $130k - $150k

     ...Strategic Project Lead Title of Role: Strategic Project Lead Location: San Francisco, onsite Company Stage of Funding: Venture-Backed - Technology, Information and Internet Office Type: Onsite Salary: $130K-$150K Company Description We're representing... 
    For contractors
    Work at office

    Recruiting from Scratch

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  • $145k - $260k

     ...skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more. Base pay range $145,000.00/yr – $260,000.00/yr Role Strategic Project Lead Compensation Base: $145,000 – $260,000 + Competitive Equity Years of Experience (YOE) 2 – 8 years of experience working... 
    Work at office
    Immediate start

    Crossing Hurdles

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  •  ...scale, coordinating people, robots, scenes, evaluation, annotation, and operational capacity becomes increasingly complex. Strategic Project Leads ensure the most important work is prioritized, resourced, and delivered successfully. The Team The Strategic Project... 

    Physical Intelligence

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • $125k - $250k

     ...Venture Partners, Notable Capital, Stanford University, Noam Brown, Gokul Rajaram, and more. Responsibilities As a Strategic Projects Lead at Patronus AI, you will lead the delivery of high-quality simulations that define how AI systems are trained, evaluated, and... 
    Work at office

    Patronus AI, Inc.

    San Francisco, CA
    22 hours ago
  • $150k - $300k

     ...as well as a proven enterprise business that is exploding as AI traverses the physical economy. What You'll Do As a Strategic Projects Lead on our Frontier Data team, you’ll own the delivery engine behind the datasets and environments we ship to leading AI labs.... 
    Work at office

    Roboflow, Inc

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  •  ...work hand-in-hand with the leadership team across the hardest, most ambiguous problems the company faces. You’ll move between strategic projects, customer-facing work, analytical deep-dives, and operational builds, putting structure to chaos and shipping outcomes that... 
    Work at office
    Immediate start
    Relocation

    Fulcrum

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  • $120k - $160k

     ...opportunities from the world's most innovative organizations. We work with leading enterprises and are backed by top investors. About the role: We're looking for a strategic project lead to partner directly with the CEO to shape and scale the company’s core function... 
    Work at office
    Relocation package

    Terac

    San Francisco, CA
    a month ago
  • $175k - $275k

     ...Job Description Job Description Strategic Project Lead Company: Confidential — venture-backed technology company Location: San Francisco, CA (Dogpatch office, in person 5 days per week; relocation stipend available) Compensation: $175,000 - $275,000 + 0.0... 
    Full time
    For contractors
    Internship
    H1b
    Work at office
    Relocation
    Visa sponsorship

    Transparent Search Group

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  •  ...SuperAnnotate SuperAnnotate helps the world’s leading AI teams build responsible, next-...  ..., precise talent matching, and full project transparency ensure unmatched data quality...  ...high-value client engagements. As a Strategic Projects Lead, you’ll run the end-to-end... 
    Full time

    SuperAnnotate AI

    San Francisco, CA
    22 days ago
  • $120k - $200k

     ...growth AI company providing human data that powers the world's leading AI labs. They connect expert networks of doctors, lawyers,...  ...at the center of the AI ecosystem. The Opportunity As a Strategic Project Lead, you will run the operations behind high-stakes AI data... 
    Work at office
    Remote work
    Relocation
    Visa sponsorship
    Work visa
    Monday to Friday

    talentpluto

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  •  ...lab that produces expert-level training data for the world's leading AI labs. In under two years they have scaled to a nine-figure...  ...rapidly expanding into new domains. The Opportunity As a Strategic Project Lead, you will own client engagements end to end, partnering... 

    talentpluto

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  • $150k - $250k

     ...on deploying advanced assembly and production capability for leading robotics companies and national-security-critical hardware. Basically...  ...and quality. The Role This role is for a Strategic Project Lead who thrives on turning model team requirements into production... 
    Full time
    Contract work

    Foundry Robotics Inc

    Emeryville, CA
    2 days ago
  • $150k - $200k

     ...Our work powers benchmarking, evaluation, and post-training for leading models and applications. Built on Contra, the professional...  ...benchmarking programs, and ongoing evaluation partnerships. Each project spans a different mix of AI labs, creative-tool companies, and... 

    Contrawork Inc.

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • $150k - $200k

     ...Description About the Role Join an applied AI research team building expert-generated datasets for advanced AI systems. You will lead healthcare projects from client engagement through delivery, helping improve how AI models handle complex, real-world work. What You'll Do... 
    Visa sponsorship

    Wintermeyer Ventures

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  • $75k - $110k

     ...collection and annotation — delivering the datasets that frontier AI research requires and remote workforce marketplaces can't. We own projects end-to-end, from scoping and protocol design through final delivery, running on-site and distributed expert workforces across 50+... 
    Local area
    Remote work
    Worldwide
    Shift work

    HumanSignal

    San Francisco, CA
    7 days ago
  •  ...billion valuation. We\'re based in San Francisco and backed by leading investors including Altos Ventures, BoxGroup, and Y Combinator...  ...world-class engineers and researchers. Key Responsibilities Project and client management: Work with the world’s leading AI... 
    Local area

    AfterQuery

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • $226k - $285k

     ...frontier AI systems. Through a combination of strategic partnerships and self-built data center...  ..., discipline ownership, governance, and project integration, while commissioning partners...  ...are seeking a Commissioning Project Lead to own the commissioning strategy and execution... 
    Full time
    For contractors
    Work at office
    Local area
    Flexible hours

    OpenAI

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • $150k - $175k

     ...Special Projects Lead Harper is an AI-native commercial insurance company in San Francisco. We're not bolting AI onto insurance - we...  ...business, with a seat in everything substantive: biz ops, growth, strategic projects, investor materials, M&A diligence, and whatever... 
    Work at office
    Immediate start
    Relocation
    Monday to Friday
    Flexible hours
    Shift work
    Early shift

    Harper Group

    San Francisco, CA
    22 hours ago
  •  ...of Regulatory Technology. Our industry-leading SaaS solutions are trusted by the world'...  ...growth, both organically and through two strategic acquisitions. We're a fast-paced, high-performing...  ...who thrives at the intersection of project delivery, client relationship management... 

    Cube Inc

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  •  ...As a Strategic Project Lead, you will own the end-to-end execution of high-stakes AI data projects for our top-tier clients building cutting-edge AI models. You'll be the primary point of contact for leading AI labs, orchestrating complex workflows, managing teams of... 
    Work at office
    Remote work
    Weekend work

    Verita Ai

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago

Do you want to receive more vacancies?

Subscribe and receive similar vacancies to Strategic Projects Lead. Be the first to apply!