Strategic Project Associate

Mercor; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 108,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equinox membership

Relocation bonus (Bay Area)

Proximity bonus (0.5 miles)

Meal stipend ($1,500 monthly)

Health, Dental, Vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Job summary

Mercor seeks a Strategic Project Associate (SPA) in San Francisco to drive tactical execution on large-scale human-data projects for top AI labs and tech companies. You will partner with Strategic Project Leads to ensure top-notch service, manage hundreds of domain experts, and contribute to Mercor's rapid growth and revenue targets.

The program targets exceptional recent grads with graduation dates in 2026 and 2027 and offers strong incentives, equity, and a fast-track path to leadership roles

Qualifications

• Experience in consulting, finance, startups, or similar organizations.
• Strong analytical and communication skills.
• Experience working with customers.

Responsibilities

• Generate revenue by executing large-scale projects for leading AI labs and tech companies.
• Source, vet, and manage hundreds of domain experts across disciplines.
• Foster relationships with researchers and anticipate client needs.
• Collaborate with Operations to execute strategies and drive optimizations.
• Interface with Engineering & ML teams to improve the Mercor platform.

Skills

Consulting experience

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Customer experience

Job description

About Mercor

Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We're a leading AI data company, building the layer between human expertise and frontier models. Millions of domain experts on the platform are paid over $4 million per day to train frontier AI models. Mercor's APEX benchmark family measures AI's real-world impact on professional work. Mercor Enterprise brings this same infrastructure to Fortune 500 companies: helping companies capture how their best people actually work, translating that expertise directly back into agents.

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

Silicon Valley’s top AI companies work with Mercor to find domain experts who can help train and evaluate their models. As a Strategic Project Associate (SPA) at Mercor, you will work with Strategic Project Leads to drive the tactical execution of these projects, ensure top-notch service to customers, and single-handedly drive millions of dollars in revenue. In doing so, you will have a significant impact on Mercor’s long-term growth. Strategic Project Associates will report to a Strategic Project Lead.

Our Strategic Project Associate program is designed for exceptional recent and upcoming grads (graduation date of May/June '26 & targeted graduation date of December '26 or May/June '27) and will provide a fast-paced introduction to running large scale human data projects. Promotions to Strategic Project Lead will be considered on a quarterly basis (with a target of ~6-12 months). We're an early-stage startup that operates with intensity. That means occasionally being responsive on weekends and always holding a high bar for output. The upside — performance incentives, career trajectory, and meaningful equity — reflects that.

Key Responsibilities

• Generate $10M+ in revenue by executing large-scale projects on behalf of leading AI labs and tech companies

• Source, vet, and manage the performance of hundreds of domain experts from different disciplines (e.g., software engineering, medicine, law)

• Foster strong relationships with researchers at leading AI labs and tech companies, anticipating client needs and identifying opportunities for project expansion

• Collaborate closely with the wider Operations team to execute project strategies, meet client objectives, and drive process optimizations

• Interface with the Engineering & Machine Learning team to improve the Mercor platform

What Are We Looking For?

• Experience in consulting, finance, startups, or similar organizations

• Strong analytical and communication skills

• Experience working with customers

Compensation

• Base cash compensation $120k

• Generous equity grant vested over 4 years

• A $7.5K relocation bonus (if moving to the Bay Area)

• $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 insurance401(k) with company match

We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.