Strategic Program Lead (SPL)– GenAI Frontier Lab Delivery

Job Role : Strategic Program Lead (SPL)– GenAI Frontier Lab Delivery
Strategic Program Lead (SPL) | Frontier Model Clients | Research-Driven AI Programs
Role Snapshot
This role leads high-ambiguity, research-intensive GenAI data programs for frontier AI labs. The Project Manager operates at the intersection of research intent and scalable execution, driving structured experimentation, quality governance, and operational excellence.
What Makes This Role Critical for Frontier Clients
Operates in experiment cycles, not fixed-scope delivery models.
Translates evolving research hypotheses into scalable execution workflows.
Drives signal quality over raw volume.
Partners directly with Research PMs, Safety Teams, and Evaluation Leads.
Maintains delivery control amid rapid changes to rubrics and objectives.
Core Responsibilities
1. Experiment-Driven Delivery Ownership
Convert research objectives into sprint-based execution plans.
Manage SFT, RLHF, preference ranking, safety tuning, and evaluation datasets.
Maintain experiment logs capturing intent, rubric shifts, and corrective actions.
2. Client Partnership & Governance
Act as the primary interface with frontier stakeholders.
Run structured sprint reviews and executive updates.
Surface risks, trade-offs, and improvement hypotheses proactively.
3. Quality & Rubric Governance
Drive guideline version control and calibration systems.
Implement layered QC (SME review, audits, gold sets).
Lead root-cause analysis for model performance issues.
4. Team Leadership & Capability Building
Lead TLs, SMEs, QA, and large annotation teams.
Ensure structured onboarding and continuous calibration.
Monitor cognitive load and prevent quality fatigue.
5. Metrics & Profitability Control
Track throughput, rework, guideline drift, and SLA adherence.
Maintain cost discipline across iteration cycles.
Protect margin during rapid scale transitions.
6. Risk & Compliance Oversight
Enforce data confidentiality and IP protection.
Mitigate bias risk, contamination risk, and safety mislabeling.
Required Competencies
Strong governance mindset with structured thinking in ambiguous situations.
Working knowledge of SFT, RLHF, evaluation pipelines, and safety labeling.
Ability to convert evolving guidelines into scalable workflows.
Executive-level communication and structured reporting capability.
High ownership, accountability, and ethical judgment.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree required, preferably STEM
8–10 years of project/program delivery experience.
Experience managing large-scale operational teams.
Exposure to AI data annotation, NLP, or GenAI programs preferred.
Experience working with US/EU stakeholders in fast-paced environments preferred.
Success Metrics (KPIs)
SLA adherence under evolving scope.
Quality stability despite rubric changes.
Reduction in rework and error clusters.
Client trust and satisfaction score.
Cost-per-unit stability during scale.
Team retention and capability growth.

Work arrangement
No