Lead Program Manager- Generative AI Data Operations

Welo Data; India; Remote; INR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Welo Data is seeking an experienced Senior Program Manager to lead AI training data programs at scale. You will own strategy and delivery, guiding a cross-functional team and acting as the primary client contact for the program.

You will partner with the Lead Quality Manager to maintain quality, drive improvements, and optimize high-volume operations while managing budgets and risks.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in business, operations, data/engineering.
• 0
• 5-8 years leading large multi-workstream AI data delivery.
• Proven program-level experience in high-volume environments with vendor management.

Responsibilities

• Define program goals, roadmap, milestones and operating model across projects and vendors.
• Lead a delivery team with clear goals, capacity plans, coaching, and feedback.
• Co-own quality outcomes and align on audits, acceptance criteria, and corrective actions.
• Plan and secure rater/annotator capacity with optimized shifts and automation.
• Manage budgets, margins and change orders to stay aligned with commitments.
• Maintain program RAID and lead root-cause analyses for remediation.
• Standardize SOPs and dashboards; pilot scale automation with Ops Tech.
• Ensure policy adherence for data handling, privacy, and platform access.
• Coordinate with Sales/Account, Quality, Operations and Vendor Management.

Skills

Program management

Team leadership

Client relationship management

Stakeholder communication

BI dashboards

SQL/ETL basics

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Spreadsheets

PM tools / task boards

SQL/ETL concepts

Job description

ROLE OVERVIEW

Leads a program of AI training data projects at scale. Owns program-level strategy and delivery, manages a cross-functional team, and is the primary owner of the client relationship for the program. Partners closely with the Lead Quality Manager to keep quality consistent and drive continuous improvement across high-volume operations.

Key Responsibilities-

Program strategy & planning: Define program goals, roadmap, milestones, and operating model across multiple projects and vendors.

Team management: Lead a delivery team (PMs, Coordinators) with clear goals, capacity plans, coaching, and performance feedback.

Client ownership: Act as the day-to-day executive contact; run governance, planning, and QBR-style reviews; align scope, priorities, and change.

Quality partnership: Co-own quality outcomes with the Manager of Quality; align on guidelines, audits, acceptance criteria, and corrective actions.

Scale & throughput: Plan and secure rater/annotator capacity; optimize shifts, handoffs, automation, and tooling to meet high-volume targets.

Financial stewardship: Build and manage budgets, margins, and change orders; ensure commercial and delivery commitments stay aligned.

Risk, issue & change control: Maintain program RAID; lead root-cause analyses and remediation; elevate high-impact items with options and impact.

Process improvement & automation: Standardize SOPs, templates, and dashboards; pilot and scale automation with Ops Tech.

Compliance & security: Ensure policy adherence for data handling, privacy, and platform access across the program.

Stakeholder management: Coordinate with Sales/Account, Quality, Operations, and Vendor Management to meet client and business goals.

Requirements

Education-

Bachelors degree or equivalent experience in business, operations, data/engineering, or a related field.

Experience-

5-8 years leading large or multi-workstream delivery in AI data, content review, labeling/annotation, or adjacent domains.

Proven program-level experience in high-volume environments, including vendor management and capacity planning.

Record of managing client relationships and running governance cadences.

Skills-

Program planning and portfolio governance across multiple projects.

Team leadership: goal setting, coaching, delegation, and performance feedback.

Strong communication with senior client stakeholders and internal leaders.

Solid use of spreadsheets, PM/task boards, and BI dashboards; familiarity with SQL/ETL concepts is a plus.

Quality mindset with practical use of SOPs, QA gates, and acceptance criteria.

Sound judgment on scope, time, cost, and quality; confident negotiation and escalation.

Comfortable working with global, distributed teams (advanced English).

Scope & Autonomy-

Manages a single program/team end-to-end, setting operating rhythms and standards within agreed policies and budgets.

Makes day-to-day and tactical strategic decisions for the program; escalates only non-standard or high-impact items.

Direct line management for PMs/Coordinators and dotted-line influence over cross-functional partners.

Owns the client relationship for the program and partners with the Lead Quality Manager on outcomes.