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New York, New York, United States
Onsite
Mercor's mission is to organize human intelligence to power the AI economy. We're a leading AI data company, building the layer between human expertise and frontier models. Millions of domain experts on the platform are paid over $4 million per day to train frontier AI models. Mercor's APEX benchmark family measures AI's real-world impact on professional work. Mercor Enterprise brings this same infrastructure to Fortune 500 companies: helping companies capture how their best people actually work, translating that expertise directly back into agents.
Mercor is creating a new category of work where expertise powers AI advancement. Achieving this requires an ambitious, fast-paced and deeply committed team. You’ll work alongside researchers, operators, and AI companies at the forefront of shaping the systems that are redefining society. Mercor is a profitable Series C company valued at $10 billion. We work in-person five days a week in our San Francisco, NYC, or London offices.
Deeptune is an RL environments lab within Mercor that builds training gyms for AI agents: high-fidelity simulations where AI learns to perform real-world tasks through reinforcement learning. We work with the leading AI labs to help them train the next generation of agentic models, and our environments have already contributed to recent breakthroughs in computer use, code generation, and multi-step task completion.
We're looking for a Strategic Projects Lead to own and scale the data operations that power frontier AI training. This is a high-ownership role for someone with strong agency, comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, and able to build processes that hold up under pressure.
As an SPL, you will own projects end to end, from scoping through final delivery. You'll manage a distributed team, forecast timelines, meet throughput targets, and maintain a high bar for everything that ships. You'll face ambiguous problems and are expected to solve them in ways that scale across the org. Your work will directly shape frontier models and how they're deployed.
We are hiring for Strategic Projects Associates, Strategic Projects Leads, and Senior Strategic Projects Leads. If you apply through this link, we'll evaluate you for the role that best fits your level of experience.
Own delivery end-to-end: You're accountable for data delivery end-to-end, including deadlines, throughput, and quality
Solve ambiguous problems: When you find a broken or inefficient process, you will build a scalable solution that the whole org will benefit from
Build and lead contributor teams: Recruit, train, and manage a distributed workforce; turn new hires into high performers.
Partner cross-functionally: Work closely with our engineers to scope technical requirements, flag blockers, and ship improvements to our pipeline infrastructure
Drive continuous improvement: Identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and quality gaps, and then build the solution.s
SPLs are obsessed with both quality and velocity. You'll combine analytical rigor, quantitative thinking, strong judgment, and creative problem-solving to move data efficiently through complex systems – often with imperfect information.
2+ Years of experience: Background in consulting, finance, startups, or other operationally intense environments.
Skills: Strong analytical and communication abilities; proven track record of managing complex projects.
Customer-Facing Experience: Comfortable working directly with high-profile clients.
Mindset: Excited by "gritty" process optimization and large-scale execution.
You're a self-directed operator who takes ownership without being asked.
You'd rather build a system than do the same task twice.
You're motivated by the chance to shape how frontier AI gets built.
You are motivated by ownership, impact, and building frontier tech.
Your work is a craft you want to master.
You thrive in ambiguity and love hard problems.
You appreciate diverse perspectives and uncommon ideas.
You are excited to build in person, 5 days a week, from our office at One World Trade.
SPLs generate $10M+ in project revenue annually.
Customer requests are high-pressure and time-sensitive (e.g., onboarding 1,000 contributors in 3 days, delivering 10+ hours of quality data per contributor within 48 hours).
The role is explicitly operations-focused—not strategy, product, or GTM.
SPLs begin as individual contributors, running projects end-to-end.
High performers may advance to Senior SPL (SSPL) roles, managing multiple projects and teams of SPLs.
Base cash comp from $120K-$150k for SPL, and up to $200k for an SSPL
Bi-annual performance bonus structure
Generous equity grant vested over 4 years
$15K relocation bonus (for moving to the New York metropolitan area)
$10K housing bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office)
$1.5K monthly stipend for meals
Free Equinox membership
$200 monthly laundry reimbursement
$200 monthly personal wellness reimbursement
Health, Dental, Vision insurance
401(k) with company match
We consider all qualified applicants without regard to legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations upon request.
