Scale's public sector business is growing rapidly, powered by our AI center in St. Louis. The AI Center is Scale’s core hub for teams supporting U.S. defense and intelligence missions, housing a 300+ person workforce that will likely double over the next two years. As a key member of the Scale Public Sector leadership team, you will be on the front lines of machine learning (ML) operations, accelerating the development of AI applications for the Department of Defense and national security customers.

As Scale’s AI Center Lead, you will lead Scale’s on-site public sector data annotation workforce and have complete ownership for AI Center outcomes. You will manage AI Center operations across unclassified and classified sites, lead customer-facing executive presentations, and forge deep relationships with regional and local community stakeholders. This position is a rare leadership role at a high-growth startup in a cutting-edge field. If you are an operator who is excited by a mix of boots-on-the-ground leadership and relationship-building, has high agency, and is technically curious (we don’t expect you to know everything before you start!), this may be a strong fit for you.

You will:

Oversee a 300+ full time employee and contractor workforce of data quality specialists (labelers) working on unclassified and classified government data
Lead site operations across two sites to include recruiting, human resources, security, office management, IT, finance, etc.
Lead Scale’s growth in STL to potentially doubling over the next 1-2 years
Own outcomes in their entirety: from ideation and strategy to in-the-weeds delivery of results
Lead customer-facing presentations on the capabilities and growth of the Saint Louis workforce
Coach and develop leaders in the workforce to overcome hurdles and achieve high-impact outcomes
Be a relentlessly positive cultural agent to professionalize the labeler workforce

Ideally you’d have:

10+ years of experience in a general manager, operations, growth, or consulting role requiring a blend of operational, strategic, and cross-functional work
A strong orientation towards outcomes and a history of being scrappy when it counts
An easygoing interpersonal style and ability to work and build relationships with a wide range of people
Experience leading small teams and managing multiple, complex work streams
A fundamental understanding of AI/ML training

Nice to haves:

MBA or relevant master’s degree
Background in intelligence work, particularly geospatial analysis
Active U.S. security clearance (Secret or Top Secret - SCI)

As this role has complete ownership of the outcomes of Scale’s St. Louis AI Center, it is expected to be an onsite-first role. Scale will provide relocation as necessary.

The base salary range for this full-time position in our hub location of St. Louis, MO is $157,000 - 188,400. Compensation packages at Scale include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.Scale employees are also granted Stock Options that are awarded upon board of director approval. You’ll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

About Us:

At Scale, we believe that the transition from traditional software to AI is one of the most important shifts of our time. Our mission is to make that happen faster across every industry, and our team is transforming how organizations build and deploy AI. Our products power the world's most advanced LLMs, generative models, and computer vision models. We are trusted by generative AI companies such as OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft, government agencies like the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, and enterprises including GM and Accenture. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an affirmative action employer and inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision.

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AI Center Lead - St.Louis, MO at ScaleAI