Technical Program Lead, Public Sector

Scale AI · Washington, DC · Engineering

Posted 2026-09-18

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Scale's Public Sector customer base is growing rapidly, and you will ensure that these customers become passionate, lifelong Scale partners. In this role, you will lead technical delivery for one of Scale's most consequential Public Sector programs, building AI-enabled planning and decision-support capability for major Department of War commands. Partnering with the program's Delivery Lead, you own the technical shape of what we ship: how Scale's products come together, where we extend them, and what we build from scratch. You will also lead a team of Technical Program Managers, coaching them through ambiguous problems and multiplying what the group can take on.

You will:

Lead and mentor a team of Technical Program Managers who own the program's key technical delivery areas, allocating scope, raising the technical bar, and unblocking them as they interface directly with stakeholders and end users

Own the technical shape of what we deliver: whether we are combining Scale's products in the right way, extending them in the right way for this program, and being deliberate about what genuinely warrants a bespoke build

Plan and sequence releases alongside engineering, anticipating technical risk early and putting engineering trade-offs in terms stakeholders can decide on

Serve as the senior technical voice to program stakeholders and users, translating operational needs into delivery decisions the team can execute against

Drive innovation and transformation by diving deep into technical and operational challenges, solving undefined problems, and delivering impactful solutions for Public Sector customers

Leverage technical concepts, tools, and expertise to create solutions from scratch or drastically improve existing solutions

Use data, analytics, and technical expertise to align internal resources and create tools that directly add value to customers in the public sector space

Transition AI/ML technologies and processes into working Public Sector products / solutions even when requirements are undefined or ambiguous

Partner with engineering, operations, and other public sector teams to build and deliver AI systems tailored to unique government use cases in the computer vision and generative AI domains

Set the technical direction for a cross-functional team of engineers, operations, and delivery staff to exceed the customer's AI/ML objectives

Manage the long-term health of the customer base by identifying and preempting areas of risk or concern

Build with an eye toward reuse, identifying where program work can generalize into durable capability and surfacing it to Product, while holding the line on the program's technical delivery goals

Address engineering problems alongside the product development teams

Must Haves:

An active TS/SCI clearance

7+ years of experience succeeding in stakeholder management or customer-facing role

Experience leading or mentoring other program managers, engineers, or technical staff

Demonstrated ownership of the technical delivery of a complex, multi-workstream program with senior government or enterprise stakeholders

Technical background (education or professional experience with CS, Economics, Statistics, Engineering)

Deep understanding of ML operations process

Working knowledge of software delivery pipelines and DevOps principles

A track record of structured, analytics-driven problem-solving

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Willingness to travel at least 25% of the time

We have a diverse team with a variety of skill sets, many have:

10+ years of professional experience, often in a customer-facing technical program management role in industry or government.

Experience in a Department of War or Intelligence Community operational environment, or supporting a combatant command

Experience delivering a technical platform or product that other teams build on top of, with a feel for the integration, versioning, and support burden that creates

Enough hands-on fluency with Python, SQL, and modern AI/ML tooling to interrogate data and prototypes directly, rather than relying on an engineer to answer every question

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of Washington DC is:

$199,200—$249,000 USD

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