[Hiring] Head of Data Collection @Welocalize

Role Description

Provides strategic oversight for a global account or a group of accounts delivering AI training data programs for data collection. Leads a large operations organization (Senior Managers and their teams), owns the overall financial picture, and owns strategic relationships with key clients to drive delivery performance and satisfaction. Acts as an equal partner with the Director of Quality and the Director of Engagement Management to align strategy, quality, and client growth.

• Strategic operations leadership: Set the operating model, goals, and investment priorities across accounts; translate business strategy into execution plans.
• People leadership at scale: Lead Senior Managers (L2) and their orgs; hire, develop, and retain talent; build succession pipelines and leadership capability.
• Client executive ownership: Serve as executive sponsor for key clients; run governance and planning cycles; align on roadmap, priorities, and commercial terms.
• Financial ownership: Own P&L levers—revenue, margin, pricing, forecasting, and change orders; ensure commercial and delivery alignment.
• Quality & engagement partnership: Co-own operational excellence with the Director of Quality; co-own growth/expansion motions with the Director of Engagement Management.
• Scale, standardization & automation: Drive SOP standardization, tooling adoption, and automation with Ops Tech/Product to improve speed, quality, and cost.
• Analytics & insights: Define the metrics that matter; review performance and convert data into actions at portfolio level.
• Workforce & vendor strategy: Set capacity plans across sites and vendors; manage vendor mix, SLAs, and performance improvements or transitions.
• Risk, compliance & security: Own operational risk posture; ensure audit readiness and adherence to privacy, data handling, and security policies.
• Cross-functional leadership: Align Operations, Quality, Engagement/Account, Finance, Vendor Management, and Tech to meet client and business goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in business, operations, data/engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years in large-scale operations or program delivery (AI data, content review, labeling/annotation, or adjacent domains).
• 6+ years in senior operations leadership (managing managers and multi-team portfolios).
• Proven record of financial ownership (budgeting, forecasting, pricing/margins) and executive client partnership.

Requirements

• Portfolio and program governance across global accounts.
• Executive communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management.
• Organization design, talent strategy, and performance management for multi-level teams.
• Strong command of spreadsheets, PM platforms, and BI dashboards; familiarity with SQL/ETL concepts is a plus.
• Quality and compliance mindset with practical use of SOPs, QA gates, and acceptance criteria.
• Strategic judgment on scope, time, cost, and quality; able to make and communicate trade-offs.
• Comfortable operating across time zones with global, distributed teams (advanced English).

Scope & Autonomy (L3 Alignment)

• Provides strategic direction for a global account or group of accounts; sets standards and operating rhythms across multiple teams and vendors.
• Makes medium- to long-term decisions with material business impact; escalates only exceptional or enterprise-level issues.
• Direct line management for Senior Managers (L2) and senior IC leaders; strong influence across Quality, Engagement, Tech, and Vendor organizations.
• Operates as an equal partner with the Director of Quality and Director of Engagement Management.