Technical Program Manager, AI Data Operations | Contract

Summary

We are hiring an Engineering Program Manager (EPM) to join the Human-Centered AI (HAI) EPM team, supporting HAI Data Operations.

This role will drive programs across data operations, data engineering, and internal tooling that support the development and evaluation of Generative AI (GenAI) and machine learning systems. The EPM will partner closely with engineering, data operations, research, and cross-functional teams to define roadmaps, prioritize investments, improve workflows, and drive complex programs from planning through execution.

The ideal candidate has experience in technical program management, data management, data engineering, and tooling. While software engineering experience is not required, the candidate should have sufficient technical depth to engage effectively with engineers on system architecture, data pipelines, APIs, technical dependencies, and engineering trade-offs.

The role requires excellent communication, prioritization, and stakeholder management skills and will primarily support Pacific Time (PST/PDT) hours.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end program execution for HAI Data Operations, including roadmap development, prioritization, planning, milestone tracking, dependency management, and risk mitigation.
• Partner with Data Operations and Engineering leadership to define and maintain technical roadmaps, balancing operational requirements, tooling investments, engineering capacity, and broader HAI priorities.
• Lead prioritization across competing initiatives, ensuring engineering resources are focused on the highest-impact work.
• Manage programs that enhance and scale data platforms, pipelines, processing systems, and operational tooling supporting AI/ML development and evaluation.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to define requirements for internal tools and workflows, translating operational needs into clear technical plans.
• Develop a good understanding of system architecture, APIs, data flows, and technical dependencies to identify risks, bottlenecks, and improvement opportunities.
• Facilitate technical discussions and architecture reviews, driving alignment, decision-making, and execution across stakeholders.
• Improve the reliability, scalability, efficiency, and automation of data operations workflows and supporting platforms.
• Coordinate across engineering, research, data science, and other HAI teams to ensure data and tooling capabilities support GenAI development and evaluation objectives.
• Establish and monitor program metrics, including operational efficiency, tooling adoption, reliability, throughput, and overall program health.
• Communicate program status, risks, dependencies, trade-offs, and key decisions to technical teams and leadership.
• Create scalable program management processes that improve visibility, accountability, prioritization, and execution.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience in engineering program management, technical program management, product management, or a related role supporting complex engineering organizations.
• Experience managing programs involving data platforms, data engineering, data management, data operations, or large-scale data processing systems.
• Technical fluency and demonstrated ability to partner effectively with software and data engineers.
• Ability to understand and participate in discussions involving system architecture, data pipelines, APIs, services, technical dependencies, and engineering trade-offs.
• Familiarity with software development concepts such as Python or Java sufficient to understand engineering discussions and technical designs; hands-on coding experience is not required.
• Experience driving tooling or platform programs, particularly internal tools used by engineering, data, or operations teams.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing technical roadmaps and prioritization frameworks.
• Proven ability to drive complex, cross-functional programs with multiple dependencies and stakeholders.
• Ability to translate ambiguous operational needs into clear requirements, priorities, milestones, and execution plans.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively across engineering teams, technical leadership, and senior stakeholders.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to use data to inform prioritization and program decisions.
• Ability to work primarily Pacific Time (PST/PDT) hours.

Good to Have

• Experience supporting AI/ML or Generative AI development, evaluation, or data programs.
• Understanding of data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, orchestration frameworks, large-scale data platforms, and related technologies such as SQL, Spark, Airflow, Kubernetes, or cloud-based data infrastructure.
• Experience managing internal developer platforms, workflow automation, data tooling, or operational tooling.
• Understanding of the ML data lifecycle, including data collection, ingestion, transformation, curation, annotation, evaluation, and monitoring.
• Experience working with human data operations, annotation, labeling, or evaluation workflows.
• Familiarity with APIs, distributed systems, and service-oriented architectures.
• Experience defining operational metrics, SLAs/SLOs, dashboards, and mechanisms for measuring platform or workflow performance.
• Experience working in fast-paced environments with evolving priorities.
• Experience supporting globally distributed engineering and operations teams.