Strategic Project Lead, Manager

Shape the Future of AI At Labelbox, we're building the critical infrastructure that powers breakthrough AI models at leading research labs and enterprises. Since 2018, we've been pioneering data-centric approaches that are fundamental to AI development, and our work becomes even more essential as AI capabilities expand exponentially. About Labelbox We're the only company offering three integrated solutions for frontier AI development: Enterprise Platform & Tools: Advanced annotation tools, workflow automation, and quality control systems that enable teams to produce high-quality training data at scale Frontier Data Labeling Service: Specialized data labeling through Alignerr, leveraging subject matter experts for next-generation AI models Expert Marketplace: Connecting AI teams with highly skilled annotators and domain experts for flexible scaling Why Join Us High-Impact Environment: We operate like an early-stage startup, focusing on impact over process. You'll 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. You'll be surrounded by curious minds solving complex problems at the frontier of AI. Clear Ownership: You'll know exactly what you're responsible for and have the autonomy to execute. We empower people to drive results through clear ownership and metrics. Role Overview 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 they're deployed across the portfolio. This role sits at the intersection of people leadership, operational rigor, and financial discipline. It's 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 aren't 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 You'll 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 add–data-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 You'll 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 We're 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, you'll take ownership of the SPL team, get every active project appropriately staffed, and raise the bar on project setup, tracking, and Airtable hygiene. You'll 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, you'll 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. Labelbox strives to ensure pay parity across the organization and discuss compensation transparently. The expected annual base salary range for United States-based candidates is below. This range is not inclusive of any potential equity packages or additional benefits. Exact compensation varies based on a variety of factors, including skills and competencies, experience, and geographical location. Annual base salary range $190,000—$250,000 USD Life at Labelbox 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 humanity's most transformative technology Our Vision 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. Your Personal Data Privacy: Any personal information you provide Labelbox as a part of your application will be processed in accordance with Labelbox’s Job Applicant Privacy notice. Any emails from Labelbox team members will originate from a @labelbox.com email address. If you encounter anything that raises suspicions during your interactions, we encourage you to exercise caution and suspend or discontinue communications.