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This document is for the human data operations team. We want you to understand what your role really is, what great looks like, how promotions work today, and what it takes to move into bigger roles over time. Our goal is to keep the core team incredibly lean, with 90%+ doers rather than managers. Fewer layers mean more ownership, impact, and opportunities to benefit from our growth. It also means core team seats are limited and earned.

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Your role is already a senior one

Being an HDM at micro1 is not an entry-level job. At other human data vendors, the equivalent role is often a narrow “QA queue manager” or “task reviewer” position: work a queue, flag errors, and escalate everything else. Decisions about the pipeline, the experts, and the client sit somewhere else. At micro1, HDMs own far more:
  • Pipeline ownership: You are responsible for how your pipeline runs day to day, not just one step of it.
  • Direct expert management: You coordinate, support, and give feedback to experts, often dozens or hundreds of them.
  • Quality that reaches frontier labs: The data you review goes straight into model development at top AI labs.
  • A direct line to leadership: You work side by side with SPLs, SALs, and VPs, not several layers away from them.
The skills you build here (running operations at scale, managing people, owning quality, and communicating under pressure) are senior skills. Growth doesn’t only mean a new title , it can also show up as bonuses and other recognition along the way. Getting excellent at this role is growth in itself.

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How the team is structured

  • Human Data Manager (HDM): Experts who also run operations: creating tasks, reviewing, and managing expert ops. Many move to full-time ops over time.
  • Human Data Lead (HDL): Exceptional operators who make sure KPIs are met, run nudges, hold office hours, update clients, and handle overall project ops. Usually 1–2 per project.
  • Associate SPL (aSPL): Exceptional HDLs who take on SPL-level responsibilities as part of the extended team.
  • Strategic Project Lead (SPL): Core team members who own projects end to end: strategy, KPIs, daily client updates, and making sure experts and HD Ops thrive.
  • Strategic AI Lead (SAL): Core team members who own entire accounts, manage multiple SPLs, and work directly with clients.
The usual path is HDM → HDL → aSPL → SPL. New SPLs start as an “HDL in training” on a pipeline for roughly two to three weeks before taking full ownership.

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What great human data managers do

Great HDMs take ownership of their pipelines.
  • Quality: Review tasks carefully and efficiently. Catch issues before they reach the client, and explain the “why” behind every rejection.
  • Expert experience: Check in with experts regularly with a human first approach, making sure they are neither overloaded nor idle, and closing the loop when they raise something.
  • Communication: Keep SPLs and HDLs updated without being asked. Flag risks early, with context and a proposed fix.
  • Proactiveness: Anticipate issues, work with HDLs and SPLs on solutions, and ask where you can help more.
  • Reliability: Hit deadlines, follow through on what you commit to, and stay responsive during working hours. 

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What great human data leads do

Great HDLs make the team around them better.
  • Raise the team’s level: Help HDMs improve their communication, reviews, ownership, and overall performance. Onboard and train new HDMs.
  • Obsess over quality: Own quality processes and documentation, and keep improving them.
  • Own KPIs: Know your pipeline’s numbers (throughput, quality, expert retention, margins) and act on them before the SPL has to ask.
  • Partner with SPLs: Improve the pipeline, flag issues early, take work off their plate, and handle client updates when asked.
  • Think beyond one pipeline: Share what works and help build materials other pipelines can reuse.

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What SPLs do differently

SPLs are measured on outcomes, not tasks. They own client relationships, set strategy and KPIs, make hard calls on staffing and quality, and grow projects in scope and revenue. The best sign you’re ready is that you already think this way on your pipeline.

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What helps you get promoted?

Doing your job well is the baseline. Growth comes from consistently showing you can take on more.
  • High agency: Act without waiting to be asked.
  • Responsiveness: Move quickly and keep others updated.
  • Grit: Push through challenges and get things done.
  • Soft skills: Communicate clearly and work well with others.
  • Ownership: Take responsibility and follow through.
  • Solution-oriented: Bring solutions, not just problems.
Show that you’re ready for the next level by already operating like it.

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How promotion decisions are made

  • Your SPL sees your work most closely and is usually the first to recommend you. SALs and VPs make the final call.
  • Promotions depend on business needs. An HDL or SPL role opens when a pipeline needs one, so strong performance doesn’t always mean an immediate promotion.
  • HD Ops Member of the Month is one of the clearest ways leadership sees standout work, but it isn’t a requirement or a guarantee.
What doesn’t get you promoted:
  • Time in role alone
  • Doing only what’s assigned, even if you do it well
  • Asking for a promotion without showing work at the next level
  • Great output paired with poor communication or unreliability

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An honest note on timelines

Many of the success stories below happened when micro1 was much smaller. There were fewer people, more new pipelines, and more open leadership seats, so fast promotions were more common. Getting promoted is harder now. The team is bigger, the bar is higher, and we are keeping the core team lean intentionally. A timeline like “promoted in two months” is the exception today, not the expectation. We want you to know what to expect, not to feel discouraged. In practice, growth today comes from already showing up at the next level, consistently, before the promotion happens.

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How do I work toward the core team?

Be exceptional at what you do and make the people and processes around you better.
  1. Master your current role first. Deliver great quality and give experts a great experience, consistently, over months rather than weeks.
  2. Tell your SPL you want to grow. Ask what the next level looks like on your pipeline and what gaps they see.
  3. Ask for feedback regularly and show visible improvement on it.
  4. Take on next-level work. Offer to own a process, train a new HDM, write documentation, or run expert office hours.
  5. Step up when problems come up. How you handle a hard deadline or a quality issue is one of the strongest signals we have.
  6. Help beyond your pipeline. Share best practices at the All Hands and help other teams when they’re stretched.

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Success Stories

All core team members below started as HDMs. The timelines below show how long it took them to move from HDM into the core team. Please remember, most of these moves happened when the company was smaller. Carlos Arroyo → SPL / Interim Strategic AI Lead Promotion timeline: 8 months
Strong pipeline ownership, consistent quality, and a proactive drive to take on more got him promoted to SPL in 8 months, one of the fastest HDM progressions on the team. He later stepped into the Interim Strategic AI Lead role. Liu Zhang → Former SPL, now Member of Technical Staff/Domain Researcher Promotion timeline: 5 months to SPL Has consistently impressed with her research chops, grit, and speed — grinding through major AI Lab deadlines as SPL. That research strength is exactly what powered her transition off SPL into leading efforts in the new Economics Research team full-time. Helene Nguyen → SPL Promotion timeline: 6 months Starting as an HDM on the first human data pipeline, she earned the move to SPL in 6 months, now described as “a true veteran” who’s led several pivotal pipelines since. Ben Phan → Sr. SPL Promotion timeline: 2 months | promoted to Sr. SPL 5 months after One of the fastest HDM to SPL promotions on the team, earned through ownership and consistency. He went on to become the first-ever SPL in robotics, handling many pipelines including one with thousands of experts, before his promotion to Senior SPL five months later. FAQ
  • How long does it take to get promoted? There’s no fixed timeline. It depends on your performance and on open roles, and today it usually takes longer than the success stories above.
  • Can I be promoted if there’s no open role on my pipeline? Sometimes. Leadership looks across pipelines when roles open up, which is why being visible beyond your own pipeline matters.
  • Who should I talk to about my growth? Start with your SPL. You can also raise it with your SAL or through the monthly Happiness Index.
  • Is staying an HDM a bad outcome? No. It’s a senior role with real ownership, and many great HDMs choose to go deeper in the role rather than move into leadership.