Program Manager, Data Operations at Character AI

Character’s mission is to empower everyone with AGI. Our vision is to enable people with our technology so that they can use Character.AI any moment of any day.

Character.AI is one of the world’s leading personal AI platforms. Founded in 2021 by AI pioneers Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, Character.AI is a full-stack AI company with a globally scaled direct-to-consumer platform. As of 2023 that platform was #2 in the space in user engagement. Character.AI is uniquely centered around people, letting users personalize their experience by interacting with AI “Characters.” The company achieved unicorn status in 2023 and was named Google Play’s AI App of the Year.

Noam co-invented the key tech powering LLMs and was recently named to TIME100’s Most Influential People in AI list. TIME called him “one of the most important and impactful people of the space’s past, present, and future.” Daniel created and led LaMDA, the breakthrough conversational tech project currently powering Bard.

To learn more, please visit beta.character.ai.

About the Role

As a Program Manager for our Data team, you will play a pivotal role in Character’s data flywheel by managing a portfolio of internal and external data collection, annotation, and generation projects. Your primary responsibility will be strategically designing and delivering high-quality, diverse, and high-volume datasets, with a strong emphasis on data integrity and process optimization. You will partner closely with our research engineering, product, trust & safety teams as well as internal and external data annotation teams to align projects with organizational goals, develop innovative solutions to enhance dataset quality, and proactively address blockers.

You will be a good fit if you are a seasoned program manager with a deep passion for empowering others with AGI, an obsession with data integrity, strong leadership and communication skills, and a proactive, “get things done” mindset. 

Responsibilities

• Design, manage, and execute plans to modify model behavior through data collection, annotation, and generation.

• Implement and maintain quality assurance measures to ensure dataset integrity and accuracy.

• Continuously optimize data processes to improve efficiency and quality.

• Develop and maintain metrics to track the performance and effectiveness of data operations processes.

• Collaborate with stakeholders across different teams to understand requirements and ensure alignment with project goals.

• Effectively communicate daily project results, project analysis, risks, and blockers.

• Develop innovative tooling and process solutions to enhance dataset variety, ontology, and throughput, prioritizing customer improvements.

• Develop core guidelines for data in partnership with researchers.

• Craft clear instructions for contractors worldwide with diverse backgrounds to ensure task comprehension.

• Deeply understand our research objectives to suggest ways the team and contractors can contribute beyond data collection, annotation, and generation.

• Proactively identify and resolve blockers, prioritizing and adjusting project resources as needed and collaborating across teams.

• Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations and implement security measures to protect sensitive data.

• Manage budgets and resources effectively to ensure cost-efficient operations.

• Provide mentorship and guidance to in-house annotators to foster professional growth and development.

• Manage relationships with external vendors and contractors involved in data collection, annotation, and generation activities.

Requirements

• 3+ years of industry experience in program or project management

• 3+ years of working cross-functionally with 100+ people internally and externally

• BS/MS degree or equivalent

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and project management skills

• Excellent reading comprehension and writing skills

• Solid structured thinking ability, strong logical thinking, good data analysis skills

• Understanding of machine learning fundamentals (training vs. test set, overfitting, precision/recall, supervision etc.)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AI prompt engineering, annotation, and/or within an AI product team

• Proficiency in SQL

• Technical degree

• Previous experience in a technology startup

Character is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status. We value diversity and encourage applicants from a range of backgrounds to apply.