Strategic Project Lead, Manager

At Labelbox were building the critical infrastructure that powers breakthrough AI models at leading research labs and enterprises. Since 2018 weve been pioneering data-centric approaches that are fundamental to AI development and our work becomes even more essential as AI capabilities expand exponentially.

Were the only company offering three integrated solutions for frontier AI development:

1. Enterprise Platform & Tools: Advanced annotation tools workflow automation and quality control systems that enable teams to produce high-quality training data at scale
2. Frontier Data Labeling Service: Specialized data labeling through Alignerr leveraging subject matter experts for next-generation AI models
3. Expert Marketplace: Connecting AI teams with highly skilled annotators and domain experts for flexible scaling

• High-Impact Environment: We operate like an early-stage startup focusing on impact over process. Youll take on expanded responsibilities quickly with career growth directly tied to your contributions.
• Technical Excellence: Work at the cutting edge of AI development collaborating with industry leaders and shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
• Innovation at Speed: We celebrate those who take ownership move fast and deliver impact. Our environment rewards high agency and rapid execution.
• Continuous Growth: Every role requires continuous learning and evolution. Youll be surrounded by curious minds solving complex problems at the frontier of AI.
• Clear Ownership: Youll know exactly what youre responsible for and have the autonomy to execute. We empower people to drive results through clear ownership and metrics.

About the Role

The Strategic Project Lead Manager leads and grows the team of Strategic Project Leads (SPLs) who run the day-to-day execution of our customer data projects. SPLs own the operational core of each project setup bringing data trainers on throughput and fulfillment tracking project margin payment tiers running projects through their gates and keeping Airtable current as the system of record. The Strategic Project Lead Manager owns the people who do that work: their craft their growth and how theyre deployed across the portfolio.

This role sits at the intersection of people leadership operational rigor and financial discipline. Its a player-coach role: the SPL Manager must understand project operations well enough to coach on setup and tracking pressure-test delivery plans and judge where throughput margin or quality is at risk before it becomes a delivery issue.

The SPL Manager reports to the Services lead and partners closely with the FDE Manager Deployment Leads and General Managers. Because SPLs arent bound to a single domain and any project with a significant number of data trainers needs one a core part of the role is owning the staffing cadence allocating SPLs across a shifting portfolio and reconciling project demand against capacity so every project is staffed and running well.

This role is equivalent in seniority to a Deployment Lead with a stronger emphasis on managing the SPL team and the operational engine rather than direct customer ownership. The SPL Manager is also the steward of the SPL career path SPL to SPL 2 to SPL Manager with a branch to Deployment Lead and in time toward General Manager.

What Youll Do

• Lead the SPL team end-to-end: hire coach manage performance and develop careers across the SPL track and toward Deployment Lead or GM.
• Own the weekly staffing cadence and the shared capacity view: allocate SPLs across the portfolio balance capacity against where the work is and ensure every project with a meaningful number of data trainers and an SPL partnering with the FDE Manager who commits FDE supply into the same cadence.
• Set and uphold the operational bar: clean project setup accurate tracking disciplined Airtable hygiene projects run through their gates (calibration before scaling staged ramp delivery acceptance) and reliable throughput quality and delivery.
• Own the operational-financial bar across the team margin visibility AR/billing hygiene and payment-tier management and coach SPLs to manage it well; account-level margin ownership sits with the Deployment Leads.
• Own SPL onboarding and the bar that certifies an SPL as ready to run projects solo: the 2-week boot camp including the tooling deep-dives (payment tiers internal/external tracking Airtable Growth) and the initial exercise (set up a fake project end-to-end using the adddata-trainer tools across different project types).
• Ensure SPLs keep the FDE and FDR connected at project kickoff and that they orchestrate the data-trainer workforce through Pod Leads on complex projects.
• Partner with the FDE Manager Deployment Leads and GMs on staffing delivery and alignment with customer objectives.
• Establish operating cadences dashboards and escalation paths that create visibility and accountability across the portfolio.
• Step in on escalations when throughput margin quality or a delivery timeline is at risk.
• Build the repeatable processes templates and playbooks that make the SPL function more efficient as the organization scales.

What Youll Own

• The capability and operational bar of the SPL team.
• Every active project appropriately staffed the staffing cadence and capacity view kept current.
• Portfolio-wide visibility into throughput margin and delivery risk.
• How quickly and consistently new SPLs reach a solo-ready standard and a growing bench of SPLs developing toward Deployment Lead.

What Were Looking For

• Significant experience managing operational or delivery teams or a strong SPL/program-management background and readiness to manage as a hands-on player-coach.
• Strong operational and financial fluency: comfort with throughput metrics margin billing/AR and systems of record such as Airtable.
• Excellent judgment in distinguishing operational issues from staffing issues from delivery issues and determining the right path to resolution.
• A track record of developing people and giving direct useful feedback.
• A high bar for execution paired with the ability to deliver against ambitious timelines.
• The ability to manage many concurrent projects and people without losing attention to detail.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous fast-scaling environments where processes are still being built.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with AI machine learning data pipelines RLHF or data-labeling/annotation operations.
• Experience managing contractor or contingent workforces at scale.
• Experience owning margin billing or financial tracking across a portfolio of projects.
• Experience building onboarding programs and repeatable operating systems for a rapidly scaling organization.

What Success Looks Like

In your first several months youll take ownership of the SPL team get every active project appropriately staffed and raise the bar on project setup tracking and Airtable hygiene. Youll get SPL onboarding running smoothly with new SPLs reaching a solo-ready standard faster build strong working relationships with the FDE Manager Deployment Leads and GMs and establish clear visibility into throughput margin and delivery risk across the portfolio.

Over time youll define how the SPL function operates at scale develop SPLs into Deployment Leads and future leaders and build the playbooks and operating systems that keep the engine running as the organization grows.

• Location: Join our dedicated tech hub in San Francisco
• Work Style: Hybrid model with 3 days per week in office combining collaboration and flexibility
• Environment: Fast-paced and high-intensity perfect for ambitious individuals who thrive on ownership and quick decision-making
• Growth: Career advancement opportunities directly tied to your impact
• Vision: Be part of building the foundation for humanitys most transformative technology

We believe data will remain crucial in achieving artificial general intelligence. As AI models become more sophisticated the need for high-quality specialized training data will only grow. Join us in developing new products and services that enable the next generation of AI breakthroughs.

Labelbox is backed by leading investors including SoftBank Andreessen Horowitz B Capital Gradient Ventures Databricks Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and leading AI labs.

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