Strategic Projects Lead (Technical)

SuperAnnotate AI; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading AI data company in San Francisco is seeking a Strategic Projects Lead/AI Operations Manager to oversee complex client engagements. You will manage end-to-end delivery of LLM and Gen AI projects, ensuring operational excellence and client satisfaction. The successful candidate should have 5–8 years of relevant experience, strong stakeholder communication skills, and a solid understanding of the Gen AI landscape. This is a full-time hybrid position with a competitive salary range of $140,000 - $210,000.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of experience in running complex technical projects.
• A track record of owning outcomes with accountability.
• Strong communication skills with C-suite executives.
• Expertise in operational problem-solving and decision-making.
• Fluency in financial and resource management.
• Working knowledge of LLMs and data pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Lead LLM and Gen AI data projects from start to finish.
• Serve as the main client contact and build relationships.
• Manage multiple project timelines and quality metrics.
• Design effective workflows for team execution.
• Recruit and mentor team members for high performance.
• Identify opportunities for project scope expansion.
• Prepare and present project health reports to stakeholders.

Skills

Project delivery

Client relationship management

Operational problem-solving

Communication with senior stakeholders

Financial fluency

Understanding of Gen AI landscape

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Python

JavaScript

Job description

About SuperAnnotate

SuperAnnotate helps the world’s leading AI teams build responsible, next-generation models powered by high-quality human data. We’re a fast-growing Series B startup bridging the gap between advanced AI innovation and the data that drives it. Our global network of expert specialists, scalable managed operations, precise talent matching, and full project transparency ensure unmatched data quality at scale. Trusted by innovators like Databricks and ServiceNow - and backed by NVIDIA, Dell Technologies Capital, Databricks Ventures, Cox Enterprises, and Lionel Messi’s Play Time VC - SuperAnnotate is proud to be the top-ranked AI data company on G2 for multiple consecutive years, including 2025.

The Impact You'll Make

We’re looking for a skilled operator who can take full ownership of our most complex, high-value client engagements.

As a Strategic Projects Lead/AI Operations Manager, you’ll run the end-to-end delivery of SuperAnnotate’s largest LLM and Gen AI data programs. This includes everything from scoping data collection workflows with key clients, acting as a trusted resource to researchers, resolving a quality issue, reallocating resources under a tight deadline, and more. The role touches everything: strategy, execution, client relationships, team development, and process design.

You’ll work directly with researchers, data teams, and other key stakeholders at some of the most advanced AI organizations in the world. You’ll be trusted to represent SuperAnnotate at the highest level - and to grow those relationships through execution and management excellence.

You don’t need to be a researcher or an ML engineer. But you do need to understand the Gen AI landscape well enough to have credible conversations about LLM data challenges, evaluation approaches, and what good looks like and to translate that into operational decisions your team can execute on.

This is a full-time, hybrid position based in San Francisco.

What You'll Do

• Own project delivery end-to-end: Lead LLM and Gen AI data engagements from initial scoping through final delivery - including use case definition, resource planning, quality oversight, and client sign-off. The project succeeds or fails on your watch.

• Be the client's main point of contact: Build and maintain trusted relationships with key stakeholders. Bring transparency, good judgment, and a solutions orientation to every interaction.

• Drive operational discipline across workstreams: Manage timelines, staffing plans, and delivery quality across multiple concurrent projects. Catch problems before they become crises and fix them before they reach the client.

• Design the workflows that make delivery possible: Build labeling pipelines, review processes, and quality frameworks that let your team execute at scale - and refine them continuously as project needs evolve.

• Lead and develop your team: Recruit, mentor, and performance-manage the operations and subject matter experts. Set the bar, support the people, and build toward a team that can scale.

• Identify scope expansion opportunities: Partner with Go-to-Market to turn strong delivery into expanded engagements. Understand your clients’ broader AI data challenges well enough to propose what’s next.

• Keep leadership and clients informed: Develop reporting cadences and executive briefings that give an honest, clear picture of project health, risks, and outcomes without noise.

What You'll Bring

• 5–8 years of experience running complex technical projects or operations in client-facing roles, with at least some of that time in a high-growth startup environment.

• A track record of owning outcomes: You’ve managed cross-functional workstreams with real accountability - and you can point to what you delivered and how.

• Strong senior stakeholder communication: You’re comfortable in a room with a CTO or VP and can represent a complex project clearly, confidently, and honestly.

• Sharp operational problem-solving: You diagnose issues structurally, propose solutions with clear tradeoffs, and move quickly from analysis to action.

• Financial and resource fluency: You understand project margins, can build resource plans, and think about the business impact of operational decisions.

• A working knowledge of the Gen AI landscape: Specifically LLMs, data pipelines, and evaluation - enough to engage meaningfully with clients and guide your team’s work.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field

Nice to Have

• Coding experience in Python, JavaScript, or similar - not required, but it sharpens your judgment on technical projects.

• Experience building or managing large distributed contributor or expert workforces.

• Background in management consulting, investment banking, or data-intensive technical services.

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree.

$140,000 - $210,000 a year

Why SuperAnnotate

This role sits at the center of what SuperAnnotate does and what the AI industry needs most right now. You’ll work on problems that matter, with clients who are building the systems that will define the next decade of AI. You’ll have real ownership, real visibility, and a direct line to leadership.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview!

Equal Opportunity

We are an equal-opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. At SuperAnnotate diversity means to us making an effort to reflect the many experiences and identities of the outside world, and treating each other with fairness and without bias. Every day we foster an environment where people of all backgrounds not only belong, but excel to succeed as a company and grow together. We offer equal opportunity regardless of sex, sexual orientation, national origin, color, race, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, veterans and more.