Head of Operations Planning

Mercor, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity starting at $1.5m/4 years

Proximity bonus ($10K)

Meal stipend ($1.5K/month)

Free Equinox membership

Relocation bonus up to $15k

Job summary

Mercor, Inc. is building a centralized Operations Planning function to convert signed deals into forecasted, fully staffed production plans.

The Head of Operations Planning will own staffing, data quality, and the single source of truth for project status across multiple accounts. The role requires 5+ years in operations or program management, with a track record of leading teams and standardizing processes.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in operations, program management, or business ops.
• Experience building a team or function from scratch.
• Direct experience managing people.
• Strong command of spreadsheets and reporting tools.
• Track record of standardizing messy processes into repeatable systems.
• Ability to be the source of truth in discussions about numbers.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the Operations Planning function from the ground up.
• Define operating model, staffing, and scalable processes.
• Lead demand planning, forecasting, and capacity planning across accounts.
• Develop dashboards and reporting tools for visibility and accountability.
• Collaborate with Finance and account leadership on cost and margins.
• Represent Ops Planning in cross-functional reviews and leadership sessions.

Job description

About Mercor

Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We partner with leading AI labs and enterprises to provide the human intelligence essential to AI development. Our vast talent network trains frontier AI models in the same way teachers teach students: by sharing knowledge, experience, and context that can’t be captured in code alone. Today, more than 30,000 experts in our network collectively earn over $3 million a day.

Mercor is creating a new category of work where expertise powers AI advancement. Achieving this requires an ambitious, fast-paced and deeply committed team. You’ll work alongside researchers, operators, and AI companies at the forefront of shaping the systems that are redefining society. Mercor is a profitable Series C company valued at $10 billion. We work in-person five days a week in our San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.

About the role

Mercor is building a team to centralize planning and reporting across its rapidly growing Human Data business. This team sits at the intersection of Delivery Operations, Engagement Management, Finance, and Talent Sourcing. As the business scales, this function becomes the single system every team plans against, replacing fragmented, account-by-account approaches with one consistent standard.

The Head of Operations Planning will stand up this function from the ground up: the team, the workflows, and the tools that turn a signed deal into a fully staffed, forecasted, and tracked production plan. That means catching data quality issues as opportunities enter the pipeline, checking staffing plans against actual delivery capacity before commitments are made, and giving leadership a single source of truth on where every project stands.

What you’ll own

• Build and lead the function: Design the operating model for Operations Planning — what the team owns, how it’s staffed, and how it scales as new accounts and business lines come online.

• Demand and forecast accuracy: Set the standard for how customer demand gets captured, at what granularity, and how it flows into production plans and revenue forecasts. Own the weekly cadence with account and supply teams to catch drift early.

• Staffing and capacity strategy: Own the framework for translating forecasted demand into staffing decisions across accounts. Build models that stress-test headcount scenarios and flag risk before it hits a client conversation. Partner with Finance and account leadership on cost and margin implications.

• Opportunity pipeline integrity: Own the process that governs how new opportunities get scoped, logged, and moved from signal to committed forecast. Set the bar for consistency across accounts so leadership can trust the number without checking the math.

• Systems and reporting infrastructure: Decide what gets tracked, how, and where. Build the dashboards, account playbooks, and planning tools that make account status visible without a meeting.

• Cross-functional operating rhythm: Represent Operations Planning in account reviews, finance syncs, and leadership forecasting sessions.

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years in operations, program management, or business operations, with direct experience in demand planning, staffing, or forecasting at a company with complex, multi-account delivery
• Experience building a team or function from scratch, not just operating within one someone else designed
• Direct experience managing people
• Strong command of spreadsheets and reporting tools; comfort building the system rather than waiting for someone to build it for you
• A track record of standardizing messy, inconsistent processes into something repeatable and auditable
• Comfortable being the source of truth in a room full of people who disagree about the numbers
• Experience in AI training data, human data operations, or a comparable high-growth operations environment is a plus, not a requirement

Compensation

• Base cash comp from $200K-$250k
• Aggressive bi-annual performance bonus structure
• Equity starting at $1.5m / 4 years
• $10K proximity bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office)
• $1.5K monthly stipend for meals
• Free Equinox membership
• $200 monthly laundry reimbursement
• $200 monthly personal wellness reimbursement
• Health, Dental, Vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Up to $15k Relocation bonus