Strategic Project Lead

Role Overview

About the Role

The Strategic Project Lead owns the day-to-day execution of our customer data projects. The SPL runs the project on the ground — keeping throughput, delivery, and quality on track from kickoff through steady-state to final delivery. As a rule, any project with a significant number of data trainers on it needs an SPL.

SPLs own the operational core of a project: setting it up, bringing data trainers on, running it through its gates (calibration before scaling, staged ramp, delivery acceptance), tracking fulfillment and project margin, operating payment tiers, and keeping Airtable current as the system of record. By owning the running of the project, the SPL frees the Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) to focus on higher-level technical and customer-facing work, and protects the Forward Deployed Researcher's (FDR) research time.

The SPL sits at the intersection of operations, finance, and people coordination. They aren't bound to a single domain — they work across whatever projects need them. A key part of the role is keeping the FDE and FDR connected as a project kicks off, and orchestrating the data-trainer workforce through Pod Leads, who are central to the SPL's ability to deliver on complex projects.

The SPL reports to the SPL Manager for craft and career, and on the ground takes delivery direction from the Deployment Lead on accounts that have one (the Deployment Lead owns the customer's delivery end-to-end and coordinates SPLs across its projects). It's a senior operating track: SPLs can grow into SPL Manager (managing other SPLs) or Deployment Lead (the customer-facing path), and from there toward a General Manager role.

What You'll Do

• Run assigned projects day-to-day, owning throughput, delivery, and operational quality from kickoff through delivery; a SPL is staffed on any project with a meaningful number of data trainers.
• Run each project through its gates: calibrate before scaling, ramp in stages while quality holds, and meet acceptance criteria at delivery — so quality is enforced in flight, not discovered at the end.
• Set up projects and bring data trainers on using the platform tooling, configuring the right setup for different project types.
• Keep Airtable accurate as the system of record — tasks and status always current — owning tracking across internal projects (fulfillment, data-trainer tracking, sheets) and external projects (glide-path templates and margin tracking).
• Own project-level financials: track margin and fulfillment live, operate payment tiers, handle project billing/AR, and resolve data-trainer payment issues — flagging margin risk early and escalating margin-protecting changes to the comp structure to the Deployment Lead, who owns account-level margin.
• Keep the FDE and FDR connected as the project kicks off, so technical scoping and research inputs land in the work.
• Orchestrate the data-trainer workforce through Pod Leads — keeping trainers productive, paid, and organized, and using Pod-Lead first-line review as early quality signal — rather than managing hundreds of trainers directly.
• Identify delivery risks early, put mitigations in place, and escalate when throughput, quality, or timelines are at risk.
• Work flexibly across projects and domains as priorities shift.

What You'll Own

• Your projects delivered to plan — on time, to the quality bar, and at healthy project margin.
• Throughput and fulfillment against commitments.
• A clean system of record (Airtable always current) and a live view of project margin.
• Productive, well-run data-trainer teams via your Pod Leads.

What We're Looking For

• Experience running operational projects or programs with many moving parts and people.
• Strong organizational and tracking discipline — comfortable owning dashboards, sheets, and a system of record such as Airtable.
• Operational and financial literacy: ease with throughput metrics, margin, and billing/AR.
• Ability to coordinate and orchestrate multiple stakeholders — engineers, researchers, and a contingent workforce through its leads — and keep them aligned.
• A bias toward action, calm under pressure, and a habit of catching problems before they become delivery issues.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-scaling environments where processes are still being built.
• The ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously without losing attention to detail.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with AI, machine learning, data pipelines, RLHF, or data-labeling/annotation operations.
• Experience managing contractor or contingent workforces.
• Experience with Airtable or similar operational tooling.
• Experience owning billing, margin, or financial tracking for projects.

What Success Looks Like

In your first several months, you'll take ownership of a set of projects, get fluent in the platform tooling, and keep Airtable accurate and up to date. You'll hit throughput, quality, and delivery targets, run your projects cleanly through calibration and ramp without quality surprises, build strong working relationships with the FDEs, FDRs, Pod Leads, and Deployment Leads you work alongside, and become the reliable owner of project operations — the person who keeps the FDE–FDR partnership connected and the data trainers productive.

Over time, you'll take on larger and more complex projects, mentor newer SPLs, and build toward SPL Manager or Deployment Lead — and, in time, a path toward General Manager.