Strategic Projects Lead

Job Description

Job Description

Mountain View, CA · On-site · Full-time
Compensation: $140,000–$200,000 + competitive equity

About the Company

An applied AI research lab focused on the curation of data and reinforcement-learning (RL) environments for training and evaluating AI agents. The lab builds RL environments for frontier AI labs and specialized agents for enterprise customers, and is recognized for contributions to widely used open reasoning datasets and leading agent benchmarks.

Founded 2023 · 11–50 people · Series A · Industry: AI Research

The Role

The Strategic Projects Lead owns multi-million-dollar customer contracts end-to-end — managing delivery across budget, schedule, and scope while coordinating large distributed teams of annotators, engineers, and domain specialists. This is a deeply operational role at the intersection of project management, data operations, and customer success, with the ability to build systems and processes from scratch.

What you'll be doing

• Own end-to-end delivery of customer projects across budget, schedule, and scope with clear accountability for outcomes
• Track project milestones and quality standards across distributed expert teams
• Identify bottlenecks early and resolve problems before they become blockers
• Communicate directly with customers to understand needs, set priorities, and manage expectations
• Build and scale data pipelines and operational processes that drive real revenue across distributed global teams
• Manage large teams of annotators, engineers, and domain specialists across time zones and aggressive deadlines
• Design systems and workflows from scratch when playbooks do not exist
• Make high-impact daily decisions on resource allocation, scope, and trade-offs using SQL and Python for data analysis

Tech stack: SQL, Python (for data analysis and operational tracking); expert teams engaged over Discord

Requirements

• 4-8 years operations or project lead experience
• CS undergraduate degree required
• SQL and Python for data analysis and operational tracking
• Strong written + verbal English fluency (Discord-based expert engagement)
• Balances quality, speed, and cost simultaneously

Green Flags

• Strong conceptual and analytical problem-solving with CS or ML background.
• Track record of balancing quality, speed, and cost simultaneously on past project work.
• Bias for action plus systems thinking plus high empathy for the customer.
• Prior experience managing distributed expert teams (annotators, engineers, domain specialists across time zones)
• Calm under pressure with high ownership and tenacity.

Red Flags

• Candidates who theorize about strategy instead of getting their hands dirty in operations.
• Pure project managers without technical grounding (cannot work with SQL, Python, or alongside engineers fluently). The role requires technical operations, not consulting-style PM.
• Senior managers (10+ years) who default to delegation rather than direct execution. Role is 4-8 years sweet spot.
• Weak written communication. Expert teams are engaged primarily over Discord, so written fluency is the primary screen.
• Cannot operate without a playbook.
• No CS undergraduate degree

Why Join

• Own multi-million-dollar contracts with leading AI labs and enterprises end-to-end from day one
• Full visibility into frontier AI training workflows and direct customer relationships
• Flat structure, direct access to leadership, and scope that expands as fast as you can take it

Details

• Location: Mountain View, CA
• Work policy: On-site
• Compensation: $140,000–$200,000 + equity
• Visa sponsorship: None available
• Employment type: Full-time