Handshake
Manager, Strategic Projects (Safety)
Seattle, WA. Posted 22 days ago
The role
You will lead a portfolio of complex human data programs for frontier AI model training and evaluation. You will manage a team of Strategic Projects Leads and design scalable workflows and quality systems across policy domains.
What you will do
- Partner directly with frontier AI labs and senior stakeholders
- Lead a portfolio of complex safety and evaluation programs across policy domains and frontier risks
- Manage, coach, and develop Strategic Projects Leads
- Set and establish the quality bar by designing scalable annotation frameworks, taxonomies, assessments, instructions, and audit systems
- Shape scope, resolve high-stakes issues, identify policy and coverage gaps, and build customer relationships
- Use data and first-principles reasoning to diagnose systemic quality or operational issues
- Build and scale playbooks, processes, and AI-enabled workflows
- Surface emerging risk patterns, labeling inconsistencies, and strategic opportunities
Required qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in trust and safety, policy enforcement, regulatory compliance, risk management, operations, consulting, government, or a related field, including people-management experience
- 2+ years managing high performing teams in fast paced, execution focused environments
- Demonstrated success leading multiple complex, high-stakes programs and managing teams in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Deep operational judgment and the ability to make clear quality-throughput-cost tradeoffs across complex human-data workflows
- Exceptional written, verbal, and stakeholder-management skills
- Experience partnering directly with senior customers and cross-functional leaders
- A track record of building scalable processes, developing others, and creating a high-accountability, high-quality team culture
- Curiosity and the ability to quickly build fluency in technical AI concepts, model behavior, and industry trends
Nice to have
- Experience leading safety-policy, content-review, or evaluation operations across large, distributed workforces
- Subject-matter expertise in high-severity policy harms, including violent activities, dangerous organizations or individuals, sexual activities, CBRN, cyber, or related domains
- Experience designing and scaling AI safety evaluations, annotation taxonomies, quality systems, or adversarial-testing programs
- Experience working directly with frontier AI labs or other highly technical enterprise customers
Benefits
- Equity in a fast-growing company
- 401(k) match
- competitive compensation
- financial coaching
- Paid parental leave
- fertility benefits
- parental coaching
- Medical, dental, and vision
- mental health support
- $500 wellness stipend
- $2,000 learning stipend
- ongoing development
Before you apply
- This role involves exposure to sensitive or explicit content (e.g., violent, sexual, or otherwise disturbing material)
About the company
Handshake delivers benefits that help you feel supported—and thrive at work and in life.