Technical Program Lead, Public Sector

Posted Yesterday
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Washington, DC, USA
In-Office
199K-249K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Big Data • Machine Learning
The Data Platform for AI: High quality training and validation data for AI applications.
The Role
Leads technical delivery for a complex public-sector AI program, directing solution architecture, release planning, engineering trade-offs, and stakeholder communication. Manages and mentors Technical Program Managers while coordinating engineers, operations, and delivery teams. Translates government operational needs into AI/ML products, drives innovation, manages technical risks, and promotes reusable capabilities across programs. Requires active TS/SCI clearance, strong stakeholder and technical program leadership experience, MLOps and DevOps knowledge, analytics-driven problem solving, and at least 25% travel.
Summary Generated by Built In

Scale's Public Sector customer base is growing rapidly, and you will ensure that these customers become passionate, lifelong Scale partners. In this role, you will lead technical delivery for one of Scale's most consequential Public Sector programs, building AI-enabled planning and decision-support capability for major Department of War commands. Partnering with the program's Delivery Lead, you own the technical shape of what we ship: how Scale's products come together, where we extend them, and what we build from scratch. You will also lead a team of Technical Program Managers, coaching them through ambiguous problems and multiplying what the group can take on.


You will:

  • Lead and mentor a team of Technical Program Managers who own the program's key technical delivery areas, allocating scope, raising the technical bar, and unblocking them as they interface directly with stakeholders and end users
  • Own the technical shape of what we deliver: whether we are combining Scale's products in the right way, extending them in the right way for this program, and being deliberate about what genuinely warrants a bespoke build
  • Plan and sequence releases alongside engineering, anticipating technical risk early and putting engineering trade-offs in terms stakeholders can decide on
  • Serve as the senior technical voice to program stakeholders and users, translating operational needs into delivery decisions the team can execute against
  • Drive innovation and transformation by diving deep into technical and operational challenges, solving undefined problems, and delivering impactful solutions for Public Sector customers
  • Leverage technical concepts, tools, and expertise to create solutions from scratch or drastically improve existing solutions
  • Use data, analytics, and technical expertise to align internal resources and create tools that directly add value to customers in the public sector space
  • Transition AI/ML technologies and processes into working Public Sector products / solutions even when requirements are undefined or ambiguous
  • Partner with engineering, operations, and other public sector teams to build and deliver AI systems tailored to unique government use cases in the computer vision and generative AI domains
  • Set the technical direction for a cross-functional team of engineers, operations, and delivery staff to exceed the customer's AI/ML objectives
  • Manage the long-term health of the customer base by identifying and preempting areas of risk or concern
  • Build with an eye toward reuse, identifying where program work can generalize into durable capability and surfacing it to Product, while holding the line on the program's technical delivery goals
  • Address engineering problems alongside the product development teams

Must Haves:

  • An active TS/SCI clearance
  • 7+ years of experience succeeding in stakeholder management or customer-facing role
  • Experience leading or mentoring other program managers, engineers, or technical staff
  • Demonstrated ownership of the technical delivery of a complex, multi-workstream program with senior government or enterprise stakeholders
  • Technical background (education or professional experience with CS, Economics, Statistics, Engineering)
  • Deep understanding of ML operations process
  • Working knowledge of software delivery pipelines and DevOps principles
  • A track record of structured, analytics-driven problem-solving
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Willingness to travel at least 25% of the time

We have a diverse team with a variety of skill sets, many have:

  • 10+ years of professional experience, often in a customer-facing technical program management role in industry or government.
  • Experience in a Department of War or Intelligence Community operational environment, or supporting a combatant command
  • Experience delivering a technical platform or product that other teams build on top of, with a feel for the integration, versioning, and support burden that creates
  • Enough hands-on fluency with Python, SQL, and modern AI/ML tooling to interrogate data and prototypes directly, rather than relying on an engineer to answer every question

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:
$199,200$249,000 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 [email protected]. 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.

Skills Required

  • Active TS/SCI security clearance
  • 7+ years of experience in stakeholder management or customer-facing roles
  • Experience leading or mentoring program managers, engineers, or technical staff
  • Experience owning technical delivery for a complex, multi-workstream program with senior government or enterprise stakeholders
  • Technical background in computer science, economics, statistics, or engineering through education or professional experience
  • Deep understanding of machine learning operations processes
  • Working knowledge of software delivery pipelines and DevOps principles
  • Track record of structured, analytics-driven problem solving
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Willingness to travel at least 25% of the time
  • 10+ years of professional experience
  • Experience in a Department of War or Intelligence Community operational environment, or supporting a combatant command
  • Experience delivering a technical platform or product used by other teams, including integration, versioning, and support considerations
  • Hands-on fluency with Python, SQL, and modern AI/ML tooling

Scale AI Compensation & Benefits Highlights

The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Scale AI and has not been reviewed or approved by Scale AI.

  • Healthcare Strength Company materials and third‑party pages describe comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage along with mental‑health services and an EAP. Health insurance is portrayed as strong, with options like HSA/FSA and indications of high premium coverage.
  • Leave & Time Off Breadth Descriptions highlight generous PTO, paid holidays and sick time, bereavement, volunteer time, and role‑dependent flexibility or remote options. This breadth is positioned as part of a supportive time‑off approach, with specifics varying by location.
  • Equity Value & Accessibility Full‑time offers commonly include equity and an ESPP, which can meaningfully lift total compensation, especially in engineering and senior roles. Job postings and compensation snapshots consistently reference base‑plus‑equity packages aligned with competitive AI market pay.

Scale AI Insights

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The Company
HQ: San Francisco, CA
523 Employees
Year Founded: 2016

What We Do

Scale accelerates the development of AI applications by helping machine learning teams generate high-quality ground truth data. Our advanced LiDAR, image, video and NLP annotation APIs allow machine learning teams at companies like OpenAI, Lyft, Pinterest, and Airbnb focus on building differentiated models vs. labeling data.

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