Strategic Product Operations Lead

About the company

Taste Labs is building the data and infrastructure layer for taste.

Our goal is to end AI slop. To make AI feel right, not just be correct. We raised $18.5M in seed co-led by Amplify and CRV, and most frontier labs are already customers.

AI has nailed objective domains and can generate anything. The hard part left is judgement: what fits, what feels like you, what's actually GREAT. We're turning that into something measurable, starting with design.

We do it on two sides: building the post-training data and RL environments that teach taste to frontier models, and the context and verification tools agents need to produce work that's more creative, more on-brand, more right.

If that problem excites you, you'll like it here! About the role

You're the owner of entire data development projects. You’ll own them end to end: scoping, research, expert staffing, quality, delivery, scope management, pricing, margin. You'll own the relationship with an external lab researcher, and be the connective tissue with internal teams (engineering, design, research, growth), as well with TasteMaker design experts. This role requires people that are passionate about quality, creativity, that obsess over details, that know how to get things done and how to bring others along the way. It requires being somewhat technical. And someone who’s great at turning things into machines.

What you'll work on

• This will feel like a hybrid operations, product and strategy role. You function as a mini-CEO of a project or data vertical.
• You work directly with researchers at frontier labs and researchers/designers internally to scope new data, RLE and eval projects
• You own the relationship and roadmap of the internal engineering team, shaping what tooling and technology we’re building.
• You own the relationship with the experts and QA teams. You own “quality” and project health, and own the resources/levers to fix anything that feels off.
• Every day is different. You have to be comfortable with ambiguity and shifting priorities, as well as with being the one making decisions.

You might be a fit if

• 4+ years in Consulting, Investment Banking, PE, Strategy, BizOps or a founding/early Chief of Staff role at a fast-moving startup
• Experience designing and running human-data / AI training pipelines is a big plus, but not required
• You’re obsessive about process without being bureaucratic, you know how to run a tight ship
• You’re great at writing, communicating and rallying people
• You have a passion for creative fields and/or design, and you care about quality deeply.

Not a fit if

• You want a narrow PM role with a clear backlog
• You don’t enjoy switching contexts quickly
• You’d be uncomfortable with ambiguity
• You aren't comfortable making decisions