At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the growth of AI training data and dataset services across multiple media types.
- Company: Join Side, a global leader in video game development and AI datasets.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, career development, and the chance to shape the future of AI.
- Other info: Dynamic work environment with opportunities for global collaboration and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in the AI industry while working with cutting-edge technologies.
- Qualifications: 5+ years in datasets or AI data collection, strong leadership and commercial skills.
The predicted salary is between 100000 - 150000 £ per year.
- Description
- Director, Datasets
Reporting to
Senior Director of Audio & Datasets
About the Role
As Side continues to expand its Datasets business, we are seeking an experienced
Director of Datasets to define and lead the next stage of our growth across AI training data, speech technology, multimodal datasets and emerging data collection services.
Reporting to the Senior Director of Audio & Datasets, this role will provide the strategic, commercial and operational leadership for Side’s global Datasets line of business.
The successful candidate will oversee the continued expansion of our market-leading speech and voice dataset services, while helping establish new capabilities across image, video, transcription, annotation, multimodal and crowdsourced data collection.
This is a highly strategic position combining
- Solution design
- Commercial leadership
- Operational excellence
- Client partnership
- Industry expertise
The Director of Datasets will work closely with Sales, Solutions, Production and Legal teams to define scalable service offerings, pricing models, delivery methodologies and long-term business strategy.
The ideal candidate will bring significant experience delivering large-scale dataset collection programmes, along with deep knowledge of industry processes, commercial models and emerging trends across AI data generation and machine learning.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic Leadership
- Define and execute the long-term strategy for Side’s Datasets business.
- Identify opportunities to expand beyond speech datasets into new collection services, including image, video, multimodal, transcription, annotation and other AI training data.
- Evaluate emerging technologies, methodologies and market trends to ensure Side remains competitive.
- Help shape investment priorities, capability development and future service offerings.
- Support diversification of the client portfolio across technology, AI and adjacent industries.
- Solution Architecture and Delivery
- Lead solution design for complex client requirements across bespoke dataset collection projects.
- Develop scalable methodologies for global data collection programmes involving professional talent, crowdsourced contributors, partner studios and distributed workforces.
- Identify the most appropriate collection platforms, tooling, technologies, payment methods and workflows for each engagement.
- Collaborate with Production, Legal and other business units to ensure practical and commercially viable delivery models.
- Define best practices for quality assurance, validation, metadata, rights management and delivery standards.
- Commercial and Pricing Expertise
- Act as the subject matter expert for dataset pricing, costing and commercial strategy.
- Develop pricing frameworks covering a wide range of dataset collection methodologies and licensing models.
- Support Sales and Solutions teams during client discovery sessions, proposal development and contract negotiations.
- Evaluate project scope, assumptions, commercial risks and resource requirements.
- Advise leadership on market pricing, competitive positioning and new commercial opportunities.
- Client Partnership
- Serve as a trusted adviser during client discussions involving AI training data and dataset collection.
- Translate complex technical requirements into practical, scalable delivery solutions.
- Build trusted relationships with AI companies, technology organisations, publishers and enterprise clients.
- Demonstrate Side’s expertise and capabilities throughout the sales process.
- Support key client engagements from initial consultation through to successful delivery.
- Operational Leadership
- Lead and develop the global Datasets team.
- Provide coaching, mentoring, performance management and career development.
- Establish KPIs and operational objectives aligned with business growth.
- Develop scalable internal processes that support efficient delivery across multiple collection types and global regions.
- Foster collaboration across Audio, QA, Player Support and other business units.
- Industry Thought Leadership
- Represent Side as a recognised authority within the AI datasets and data collection industry.
- Monitor developments in AI model training, synthetic data, multimodal datasets, crowdsourcing platforms and data licensing.
- Identify opportunities to introduce new methodologies that improve quality, efficiency, scalability and commercial competitiveness.
- Contribute to Side’s positioning as a premium global provider of high-quality AI datasets.
- What We’re Looking For
- Required Experience
- At least five years’ experience within datasets, machine learning or AI data collection, data operations or a related industry.
- Proven experience leading large-scale dataset collection programmes across multiple markets or languages.
- Strong understanding of AI training data requirements and collection methodologies.
- Experience designing scalable operational workflows for global data collection projects.
- Demonstrated commercial experience, including pricing, estimation, proposal development and client solutioning.
- Experience working directly with enterprise or technology clients.
- Strong understanding of legal, licensing, consent and rights management considerations relating to dataset collection.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and collaborating across global organisations.
- Ideal Profile
- Experience across multiple dataset types, including speech, image, video, transcription, annotation, multimodal or synthetic data.
- Experience with both professionally managed and crowdsourced collection models.
- Strong knowledge of data quality assurance, validation, metadata and delivery standards.
- Commercially minded, with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Confident presenting complex solutions to senior stakeholders and clients.
- A strategic thinker capable of balancing innovation with operational delivery.
- Passionate about AI technologies and emerging market trends.
- Highly autonomous, collaborative and proactive.
- About Side
Side, formerly PTW, is a global video game development and services provider offering technical and creative solutions to many of the largest developers and studios around the world.
Founded in 2009, and drawing on more than 30 years’ experience from our parent company in Japan, Side has grown to become a global force with 20 studios across 14 countries throughout North America, Europe, South America and Asia.
Our industry-leading services include
- Game development
- Art production
- Audio production
- Quality assurance
- Localisation
- Localisation QA
- Player support
- Community management
- Datasets
Our Datasets business has become an increasingly strategic part of Side, providing high-quality AI training data across more than 85 languages through our global network of partner studios and contributors.
We support everything from premium voice likeness collections through to large-scale multilingual data programmes, helping shape the next generation of AI technologies.
Help us bring stories to the world. Join a global team helping define the future of AI datasets and machine learning.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Director of Datasets
✨Get Involved in Data Science Meetups
Tap into local data science meetups or workshops to connect with fellow enthusiasts and professionals. These events are goldmines for networking, and sometimes even lead directly to job openings at companies like Side!
✨Show Off Your Projects
Start building a public portfolio showcasing your data science projects on platforms like GitHub or personal websites. Highlight unique analyses or models you've developed. This not only demonstrates your skills but also gets your name out there for roles like Director of Datasets at Side.
✨Leverage Professional Networks
Join professional bodies related to data science, like the Data Science Society or similar organisations. Getting involved can lead to mentorship opportunities and insider knowledge about full-time positions at companies like Side.
✨Apply Directly through Our Website
When you find a suitable opening like Director of Datasets at Side, make sure to apply directly through our website. It gives you an edge and shows you're keen to join our team. Plus, who doesn’t love a direct application? It’s easier than navigating through job boards!
We think you need these skills to ace Director of Datasets
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Projects:In the world of data science, your projects can speak volumes about your skills. Make sure to showcase a few key projects in your CV or portfolio, especially those that highlight your ability to work with data sets, build models, or use relevant tools like Python, R, or SQL. Don’t forget to include links to any GitHub repositories if applicable!
Quantify Your Achievements:Employers love numbers! When drafting your CV, highlight your achievements with quantifiable results. For instance, mention how your data analysis led to a certain percentage increase in efficiency or revenue at a previous job or project. These details can really make your application pop!
Craft a Tailored Cover Letter:For a full-time role at Side, your cover letter should reflect your passion for data science and your excitement about the specific projects or values of the company. Dive into why you’re a good fit, how your skills align with their needs, and any unique perspectives you can bring to the team.
Stand Out with Relevant Courses and Certifications:Although experience talks, relevant courses or certifications can be your ticket to impressing hiring managers at Side. Mention any standout courses you've completed that equipped you with essential skills, such as machine learning certifications or data visualisation courses. This shows your commitment to continuously developing your skills in the field!
How to prepare for a job interview at Side
✨Brush Up on Your Statistics
For a data science role, we need to seriously sharpen our statistics skills. Get ready to tackle technical questions on probability distributions, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis. These are often the bread and butter of data science interviews, so don't just skim over them!
✨Showcase Your Projects
Prepare a killer portfolio showcasing your data science projects. We should include details about the datasets used, the tools and techniques applied, and the impact of your findings. If we can walk them through a particularly challenging project or a cool visualisation that had real-world implications, it’ll really make us stand out!
✨Get Comfortable with Python and R
Most data science positions require us to be proficient in programming languages like Python and R. We should practice common libraries like pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn, and be ready for live coding exercises or algorithm questions. Showing off our coding chops can really impress the interviewers at Side!
✨Prepare for Case Studies
Expect to encounter real-world case studies during the interview. We might be asked how we’d approach a data problem or analyse a dataset to extract insights. It's essential to think out loud and demonstrate our problem-solving process so that the interviewer can see our logical thinking in action.
