Program Lead

Mercor; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Program Lead to manage AI training data and evaluation programs, coordinating a large pool of domain experts and turning research inputs into actionable guidelines.

You will monitor throughput and quality, provide feedback, and partner with research and product teams to ensure data accuracy, meeting deadlines in a fast-paced GenAI initiative.

Qualifications

• Experience as an Expert Program Manager (EPM) or similar on AI training data projects.
• 3+ years of experience leading large contributor or expert teams.
• Demonstrable career progression in roles from contributor to team lead.
• Ability to engage reliably for 40 hours/week.
• Strong written communication to explain guidelines and quality decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate a large pool of domain experts day to day.
• Guide research and product partners to translate inputs into clear guidelines and task instructions.
• Track deliverables, throughput and quality metrics and report status to stakeholders.
• Evaluate expert submissions and quality trends, provide clear feedback to raise the bar.
• Flag risks and blockers early and drive fixes with cross-functional partners.
• Collaborate with researchers and product teams to ensure data consistency and accuracy.

Skills

Expert PM

Team leadership

Written communication

Education

STEM degree

Tools

Spreadsheets

SQL

Coding

Job description

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team to be at the core of the AI revolution, where your expertise fuels the development of the most advanced Large Language Models.

1. Overview

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team and help build foundational AI models from the ground up. We're seeking talented Program Leads with deep, hands-on experience running AI training data, human data and model evaluation programs to lead large pools of domain experts day to day, turn research inputs into clear guidelines, and elevate the quality and throughput of our AI training data. This is a full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.

This is a W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, with the opportunity to be placed at a leading AI Lab as part of their extended workforce.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate a large pool of domain experts day to day, including onboarding new experts, running calls and weekly reviews, and keeping work moving against deadlines and quality bars.

• Guide research and product partners to close gaps between program goals and expert output, translating research and leadership inputs into clear, actionable guidelines and task instructions.

• Track deliverables, throughput and quality metrics in spreadsheets such as Sheets or Excel, and report program status clearly to stakeholders.

• Evaluate expert submissions and quality trends, identify root causes of quality issues, and provide clear, written feedback that raises the bar across the team.

• Flag risks and blockers early, propose fixes, and drive them to resolution with research, product and operations partners.

• Collaborate with research and product partners and other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

3. Core Qualifications

• Experience as an Expert Program Manager (EPM), program lead or team lead on AI training data, human data or model evaluation projects, at Mercor or at another AI training or data company (e.g., Scale AI, Surge, Micro1, Turing, Outlier, Appen, TELUS, or an internal AI data operations team at a large technology company).

• 3+ years of experience leading or coordinating large contributor or expert teams against deadlines and quality bars.

• Demonstrable career progression (e.g., Expert Contributor to Reviewer to Team Lead to Program Lead or Expert Program Manager).

• Ability to engage reliably for at least 40 hours/week during weekdays.

• Strong written communication skills and the ability to explain complex guidelines and quality decisions clearly.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience on Mercor projects.

• A degree in a STEM field.

• Advanced spreadsheet skills (Sheets or Excel), working knowledge of SQL, and some coding experience.

• People leadership experience, including managing large groups of contributors or experts.

About Cincinnatus LLC:Cincinnatus LLC is an enterprise staffing company that partners with leading technology companies to source and employ highly skilled professionals for contingent and contract-based opportunities. Cincinnatus serves as the employer of record for these engagements, providing W-2 employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance, while placing employees directly within client teams to work on high-impact initiatives.

Equal Employment Opportunity:Cincinnatus is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.