Program Manager - Data Annotation (Dental AI)

At Promaton, part of the Straumann Group, our Data Annotation team produces the clinically valid, consistent, traceable, and audit-ready datasets that power our dental AI products. Annotation is where clinical truth meets machine learning, and the quality of our data sets the ceiling for the quality of our products. We're seeking a **Program Manager, Data Annotation** to run our data operations end-to-end — from data curation and annotation through model evaluation and benchmarking — orchestrating partners, vendors, clinical experts, tooling, and ML stakeholders to deliver high-quality datasets on time, on budget, and to a regulated standard. We are on a mission to provide fast, more accessible, and higher-quality dental healthcare to patients worldwide. We are part of the Straumann Group, a globally recognized leader in dentistry, with a strong 'people first' culture. We are passionate about technical innovation in healthcare, value autonomy, and implement best practices from top tech product companies. See our company page to learn more about what we do. # What success looks like - **Keep dependable datasets flowing across modalities and products** — deliver annotation projects that ML teams can train on and that Quality can audit, hitting acceptance thresholds consistently. - **Run the existing annotation operation with discipline** — manage the end-to-end project lifecycle (intake → label spec → sampling → tooling → pilot → production → review → release) so projects continue to move through clear stages with owners, SLAs, and traceability. - **Keep data lifecycle workstreams organized** — coordinate data curation, annotation, model evaluation, and model benchmarking (plus the data sourcing that feeds them), keeping priorities, dependencies, and timelines visible. - **Manage vendors and annotators to outcomes** — onboard, calibrate, and continuously improve external vendors and internal Clinical Experts (CEs), driving throughput, pass rate, and rework targets through metrics, feedback loops, and corrective actions. - **Manage quality control end-to-end** — coordinate the QC process carried out by our Clinical Experts (acceptance criteria, severity scoring, audit sampling, cross-checks, and multi-stage review) so every dataset is clinically valid, consistent, and audit-ready. - **Keep tooling and pipelines reliable** — ensure annotation projects, tooling, and dashboards remain configured for quality-by-design, with validated export formats and minimal downtime. - **Make the operation legible to stakeholders** — provide weekly progress, quality, risk, and decision updates that ML, Product, and Quality/RA can act on, and escalate cleanly when capacity, quality, or scope are at risk. - **Drive continuous improvement** — turn recurring errors, calibration findings, and retrospectives into guideline version bumps, better sampling, and tighter controls instead of one-off fixes. # What competencies do you need to succeed You are an exceptional communicator and program manager who brings clarity to complex, fast-moving situations. You gain energy from coordinating many moving parts — product managers, ML researchers, tech leads, clinical experts, and external vendors — and turning shifting priorities into a clear, organized plan people can execute against. You are hands-on with data, meticulously organized, and you naturally keep track of the details others miss. ***Communicate with clarity*** You make complex situations simple. You translate fluently between technical, clinical, and business audiences, write crisp updates, and create shared understanding when requirements are messy or fast-moving. People leave your meetings knowing exactly what's decided and what happens next. ***Manage stakeholders across the org*** You partner effectively with product managers, ML researchers (MLRs), tech leads, clinical experts, and other cross-functional partners. You align them on priorities and trade-offs, manage dependencies, and keep everyone moving in the same direction. ***Run programs and projects with discipline*** You bring excellent program and project management skills — planning, sequencing, tracking, and driving multiple workstreams to completion. You set up clear owners, timelines, and SLAs in project management tools like Azure DevOps (ADO), Jira, or Notion, and you hold the line on delivery. ***Manage the broader data lifecycle*** Your scope reaches beyond annotation. You run the project management for data curation, model evaluation, and model benchmarking — and coordinate the data sourcing that feeds them — keeping each of these workstreams organized, tracked, and on schedule. ***Manage vendors*** You onboard, calibrate, and continuously manage external annotation vendors against throughput, quality, and SLA targets, running feedback and corrective-action loops to keep performance high. ***Manage quality control*** Our Clinical Experts perform the hands-on QC, and you manage the process around it: you set up acceptance criteria and review workflows, organize sampling and cross-checks, track pass/rework/error rates, and make sure issues are caught and resolved before a dataset ships. You drive calibration and continuous improvement so quality holds as volume scales. ***Navigate ambiguity and shifting priorities*** You are comfortable operating without a fully defined playbook. You make progress amid uncertainty, re-prioritize calmly as needs change, and bring structure where there was none. You prioritize agility and adaptiveness over planning. ***Stay organized and detail-oriented*** You are super organized with high attention to detail. You keep track of the small things — case status, versions, decisions, and open issues — so nothing falls through the cracks. ***Be hands-on with data*** You are comfortable digging into the data yourself. You have hands-on experience with data analytics and are proficient in SQL (Python is a plus). You are comfortable working with cloud storage such as AWS S3 and navigating data via the command line (CLI) to monitor progress, quality, and throughput and to surface issues early. # What do you bring to the table? - **Minimum 5 years of experience as a project manager or program manager.** - An excellent communicator who brings clarity to complex situations. - Proven stakeholder management across product managers, ML researchers, tech leads, and clinical experts. - Experience managing external vendors to throughput, quality, and SLA targets. - Experience managing a quality control / QA process and driving measurable quality improvement. - Experience with project management tooling such as Azure DevOps (ADO), Jira, or Notion. - Ability to translate ML requirements into clear, measurable annotation specs. - Comfortable navigating ambiguity and managing shifting priorities. - Super organized with high attention to detail — you keep track of the details others miss. - Hands-on experience with data analytics. - Proficiency in SQL (Python is appreciated too). - Comfortable working with cloud storage (AWS S3) and the command line (CLI). - Some relevant experience in data, AI/ML, or annotation/data operations. - Self-starter who needs minimal guidance to get things done. - Ability to travel up to twice a quarter within Europe. - Based in a time zone between UTC-1 and UTC+3 (-2 to +2 hours Amsterdam time). # Bonus points - Previously worked at an AI company. - Familiarity running projects across the data lifecycle (data curation, sourcing, model evaluation, and benchmarking) is a plus. - Experience working in healthcare or another regulated market. - Familiarity with dental technology or oral health science. Sounds like you? Let's talk!