[Hiring] Queue Lead @Prolific Academic Ltd

Role Description

We are seeking a Queue Lead to join a high-priority initiative in partnership with a leading AI company. This is an operational, hands-on role, you will own day-to-day execution for one or more annotation queues on a live AI training/eval program:

• Managing throughput
• Running quality calibrations
• Tracking contributor performance
• Building out reporting systems that keep stakeholders informed in real time

You will have experience running queues and quality on AI data programs. The selected candidate will be able to speak to specific projects, calibration processes they’ve built, and contributor performance systems they’ve run.

What you'll be doing

• Queue Operations & Task Management
  • Own work queues: intake, triage, prioritization, task assignment, and SLA delivery
  • Monitor task queue and backlog control
  • Identify and troubleshoot bottlenecks (unclear policy, tooling issues, supply gaps)
• Quality Assurance & Performance Management
  • Monitor quality at project and individual annotator or contributor level
  • Perform QA tasks such as making corrections, providing annotator feedback, flagging systematic confusion and suggestions to team lead
  • Manage annotator or contributor performance by performing tasks like unassigning underperformers, identifying and retaining high-performers
• Reporting & Dashboards
  • Build and maintain dashboards to track throughput, disagreement rates, defect or rework rates, and contributor performance
  • Turn raw queue data into clear, actionable reporting for stakeholders
  • Provide feedback for process improvements based on data trends
• Training & Support
  • Oversee dedicated Slack channels by answering participant questions, providing support, and escalating complex issues to the Client Delivery Lead
  • Train new annotators or contributors on project guidelines
  • Conduct live or recorded webinars as new participants join projects
  • Host "office hours" for participants

Qualifications

• Proven, direct experience running queues and quality on AI data programs, ideally at a competitor
• 3+ years in high-throughput ops (data labeling, trust & safety, BPO, content ops, CX ops), with recent, specific AI data ops experience
• Able to identify shallow, low-effort, AI-generated, or phoned-in responses
• Proven ability to design and run calibration processes from scratch
• Ability to track record by building or maintaining dashboards or reporting systems (spreadsheets is required, SQL/BI/Looker/Tableau a strong plus)
• Experience managing contributor performance at scale including making retention or removal decisions
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast-changing priorities on live programs

What "good" looks like for us

• Scale up to running a full AI end-to-end data program, owning pipeline, throughput, calibration, and contributor performance at program level
• Operates as an AI training consultant, you are comfortable advising on processes and methodology

Bonus

• Experience with ML data or LLM eval workflows (ranking, rubric-based judging, gold sets, calibration)
• Distributed team coordination across time zones; vendor or contract workforce experience
• Consulting-style experience of advising clients on AI training methodology

Success looks like

• Predictable SLA delivery
• A stable backlog
• Improving quality and reducing rework
• Proactive dashboards reporting that give stakeholders real-time visibility

Why Prolific is a great platform to join as an expert participant

Joining our platform as a participant will give you the chance to influence the AI models of the future. Once you pass our assessment, you can join Prolific in just 15 minutes and start enjoying competitive pay rates, flexible hours, and the ability to work from home.

We've built a unique platform that connects researchers and companies with a global pool of participants, enabling the collection of high-quality, ethically sourced human behavioral data and feedback. This data is the cornerstone of developing more accurate, nuanced, and aligned AI systems.

We believe that the next leap in AI capabilities won't come solely from scaling existing models, but from integrating diverse human perspectives and behaviors into AI development. By providing this crucial human data infrastructure, Prolific is positioning itself at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation – one that reflects the breadth and the best of humanity.