Strategic Projects Lead, Public Sector - Cyber

scaleai

Washington, DC · Washington · United States

Posted Aug 11, 2026

Full-time
Hybrid
Public Sector Operations

Job description

Scale AI is at the frontier of the AI industry, improving the world’s leading generative AI and large language models through model evaluations, human-powered supervised fine-tuning datasets, world-class reinforcement learning with human feedback, and more.

Scale AI’s Public Sector team is growing in the Generative AI, Public Sector space, and we’re seeking a Cyber focused Strategic Projects Lead to lead high-impact cyber projects that drive experimentation. In this role, you’ll work across operations, engineering, customer engagement, and directly with our clients to produce world-class cyber test and evaluation and training data for Large Language Models for our Public Sector customers.

This role offers a rare opportunity to make a meaningful impact at the intersection of cyber, AI and national security. You will build human data labeling pipelines from the ground up, create operational processes to manage and optimize an in-house expert data workforce, and develop novel technology-driven approaches (e.g., scripts, prompt engineering, hybrid data) to improve the quality of both our training and evaluation datasets. You will also own the financial and technical viability of your programs by managing project COGS and partnering with Go-to-Market teams to scope customer engagements through taxonomy design and feasibility validation, ensuring deals are scalable, executable, and economically sound. In addition, you will partner directly with our internal machine learning experts and external stakeholders to ensure our data enables the development of mission-critical applications of AI.

Help shape the future of AI by joining a fast-growing team built on exceptional data, tools, and systems.

You Will:

Develop, build, and maintain the operations infrastructure required to ensure data labeling pipelines are efficient, scalable, and produce high-quality outputs.
Partner closely with customers to understand their requirements and design dataset taxonomies that evaluate agents and models or improve model performance.
Take ownership of day-to-day progress on high-priority data production pipelines, ensuring projects move forward efficiently
Partner with subject matter experts in their fields to validate the quality of our data and to translate deep cyber domain knowledge into scalable processes and measurable outcomes.
Work with our Machine Learning and Go-to-Market teams to scope customer engagements via technical feasibility validation to ensure deals are scalable and executable.
Influence cross-org collaboration to define and advance human data strategy, influencing technical and non-technical stakeholders to ensure data quality, scalability, and long-term platform leverage.
Own the financial health of programs by managing project-level COGS through workforce planning, tooling decisions, and process optimization.
Utilize analytics and data visualization tools to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions to optimize pipeline performance
Own larger and larger components of our data delivery processes, until you ultimately serve as the full owner of our most visible and high impact customer pipelines

You have:

An active Top Secret security clearance
Demonstrated experience in cybersecurity domains such as penetration testing, red/blue teaming, vulnerability assessment, network security, or cyber operations.
2-3 years of experience in product development, data science, or operations
A history of successful project management and comfort in ambiguity
Ability to analyze complex operational data, build queries, and identify trends to inform decisions and optimize processes
Technical aptitude to understand how to produce data for state of the art post-training techniques such as supervised fine tuning (SFT), reinforcement learning through human feedback (RLHF), Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) etc

Nice to have:

Experience working in defense tech and/or an AI company
A technical degree in fields like computer science, data science, or engineering
A deep understanding of ML operations for generative AI workflows / products

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles 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 and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. 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.

The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of Washington DC is:

$139,200—$174,000 USD

PLEASE NOTE: Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us:

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. 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 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.

PLEASE NOTE: We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.