Data Operations Specialist — AI Data Sourcing & Vendors

Thinking Machines Lab Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 300,000 - 350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision benefits

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

Relocation support

Job summary

Thinking Machines Lab Inc. in San Francisco seeks a hands-on Data Operations lead to help researchers get data to train and evaluate models. You’ll own data projects from sourcing through quality review and delivery, including vendor engagement and international partnerships.

This role requires initiative, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to turn loosely defined needs into action while building scalable processes and tools to reduce manual work.

Qualifications

• Experience owning operational, data, product, program, or vendor work from start to finish.
• Experience working with data vendors, ideally in AI or technology.
• Strong problem-solving instincts and a willingness to dig in when there isn't an obvious answer.
• Comfortable working directly with researchers or technical teams and turning loosely defined needs into action.
• Good judgment about quality and a willingness to inspect the work closely rather than rely only on process.
• Strong communication skills across different teams, vendors, and cultures.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, changing priorities, and tight timelines.
• High initiative and willingness to do whatever part of the job is needed to move the work forward.
• Able to add useful structure without overcomplicating things.

Responsibilities

• Work with researchers to understand data needs and turn requests into concrete plans.
• Own data projects from sourcing and vendor selection through quality review and delivery.
• Find the best vendors, experts, and data sources for different types of work.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships with data vendors, including international partners.
• Review data with researchers and vendors, identify quality issues, and improve output.
• Go deep on new data domains and learn what good looks like.
• Build guidelines, processes, and tools to make recurring work easier and scalable.
• Automate repetitive work where it makes sense while staying close to work requiring judgment.
• Work with legal and other teams on vendor relationships and guidelines.
• Manage multiple projects against research and model timelines and adjust priorities.

Skills

Data operations ownership

Vendor management

Problem solving

Researcher collaboration

Quality judgment

Communication

Ambiguity tolerance

Initiative

Process design

Job description

Thinking Machines Lab Inc. in San Francisco seeks a hands-on Data Operations lead to help researchers get data to train and evaluate models. You’ll own data projects from sourcing through quality review and delivery, including vendor engagement and international partnerships.

This role requires initiative, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to turn loosely defined needs into action while building scalable processes and tools to reduce manual work.