External Data Partnerships Lead, Data Quality

Doist; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Figure, an AI robotics company, is seeking an External Partnerships Lead in San Jose, CA to manage data quality vendor relationships with end-to-end accountability. You will source, onboard, and offboard labeling partners, negotiate terms, and enforce SLAs to ensure external output meets internal standards.

You will collaborate with engineering and ML teams to translate requirements into vendor guidelines, plan capacity, and drive regional/vendor expansion while guiding project coordinators and

Qualifications

• 6+ years in data quality, data labeling operations, vendor or partner management, or ML data operations.
• Direct experience selecting, contracting, and managing external data vendors, including SLAs.
• Track record negotiating commercial terms (pricing, SOWs, capacity) and running vendor reviews.
• Experience setting quality standards, acceptance criteria, and audit/calibration processes for external teams.
• Comfort working with engineering and ML stakeholders to translate technical requirements into operational guidance.
• Leadership across people you both do and do not directly manage, including coordinators working with vendors.

Responsibilities

• Own the full external vendor portfolio for Data Quality: sourcing, evaluation, onboarding, and offboarding of data labeling and review partners.
• Negotiate commercial terms, statements of work, and contracts, and manage pricing, budgets, and surge capacity across vendors.
• Set and enforce SLAs and acceptance criteria; hold every vendor to the same golden set and audit bar as the in-house team.
• Serve as the senior owner when a project rotates to external support, directing the Project Coordinators running that work.
• Build and run the vendor scorecard: throughput, quality, inter-annotator agreement, and SLA adherence, reviewed in regular business reviews.
• Stand up calibration exercises and golden set checks with each vendor so external output matches internal standards.
• Partner with engineering and ML stakeholders to translate data quality requirements into vendor-ready guidelines and specs.
• Plan capacity and ramp with vendors to meet project timelines, including surge needs and new regions.
• Coordinate with internal Project Coordinators and leadership on which projects rotate to which vendors and when.

Skills

Vendor management

Data quality

ML data operations

Leadership

Contract negotiation

Job description

Figure, an AI robotics company, is seeking an External Partnerships Lead in San Jose, CA to manage data quality vendor relationships with end-to-end accountability. You will source, onboard, and offboard labeling partners, negotiate terms, and enforce SLAs to ensure external output meets internal standards.

You will collaborate with engineering and ML teams to translate requirements into vendor guidelines, plan capacity, and drive regional/vendor expansion while guiding project coordinators and