Also called: Annotation Team Lead, Data Labeling Manager, AI Data Operations Lead, Human Data Program Manager
Runs a team of people who label data and grade AI answers, writing the guidelines and checking quality so the data is good enough to train AI.
You write a 10-page guide on how to grade AI answers to medical questions, then run a test with 20 reviewers and see where they disagree. You fix confusing rules, coach the slowest reviewers, and send a quality report to the AI team.
Estimate; BLS project management specialists earn $102,320 median (May 2025), but annotation leads usually earn less.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in any field; many start as data annotators or AI trainers and move up.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Linguistics, Communication, Business Administration, Data Analytics.
Growing about average. Demand rose with AI training; some labeling is now done by AI itself, so team sizes are shifting.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. AI models now pre-label most data, so teams shrink; writing guidelines, catching errors and managing experts stay human for now.
Classes: English and writing, AP Statistics, Computer applications.
Official data: O*NET occupation 13-1082.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.