Strategic Projects Lead, Safety

About the role

Handshake is seeking a Strategic Projects Lead to manage large-scale human data programs that drive the training and evaluation of frontier AI models. You will design operational workflows for model policy annotation and influence safety enforcement decisions for leading AI systems. This role requires an operator who can navigate ambiguity and deliver results in a fast-paced environment.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Architect annotation frameworks and labeling workflows that prioritize high precision and inter-rater agreement at scale.
• Manage and mentor a team of annotators, ensuring consistency and accuracy while navigating complex edge cases and sensitive policy topics.
• Work with policy leads to provide actionable insights regarding classification ambiguities and gaps identified during data annotation.
• Develop and refine annotation playbooks and auditor resources to ensure alignment across regulatory domains and datasets.
• Identify systemic labeling errors and emerging data trends to improve internal safety policies.
• Engage directly with senior stakeholders and frontier AI labs to define project scope and resolve operational issues.

Requirements

• 2+ years of experience in trust and safety, policy enforcement, regulatory compliance, risk management, management consulting, or government.
• Analytical problem-solving skills with the ability to use SQL or similar tools to extract insights from large datasets.
• Strong communication skills with experience managing relationships with senior stakeholders.
• High level of personal accountability and an ownership-driven mindset.

Nice to have

• Experience scaling content review or policy enforcement workflows across large, distributed teams.
• Subject matter expertise regarding high-severity policy harms, including sexual activities, violent acts, or dangerous organizations.
• Experience building evaluations for policy enforcement or harmful content use-cases.

Skills & tools

• SQL
• Policy enforcement
• Operational workflow design
• Data annotation management
• Stakeholder management

Practical notes

This position involves regular exposure to sensitive, explicit, or disturbing material as part of the safety and policy evaluation process. Benefits for US employees include 401(k) matching, equity, medical, dental, and vision insurance, mental health support, a $500 wellness stipend, a $2,000 learning stipend, flexible PTO, 15 holidays plus 2 flex days, paid parental leave, and fertility benefits.