Lee Griffin

Strategic Project Manager | AI/ML Training Expert

Turning complex data into strategic insights

About Me

Strategic Project Manager with 5+ years of experience leading AI/ML labeling projects. Proven track record managing complex projects at scale, optimizing processes, and aligning cross-functional teams toward business goals. Expertise in leveraging SQL, R, and dashboarding tools to extract insights and present actionable recommendations to senior stakeholders. Adept in agile methodologies and experienced in strategic planning, data pipeline management, and performance analytics.

Professional Experience

Project Manager I & II
Aurora Innovation
January 2021 - Present
  • Work on the Machine Learning Data Engine (MLDE) team.
  • Lead large scale AI/ML data labeling projects, delivered over 2 million high quality labels in 2024 used to support machine learning model training and evaluation.
  • Communicated complex technical requirements and project updates to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring alignment and facilitating decision making across teams.
  • Manage all aspects of project delivery and stakeholder management.
  • Run up to 4 projects at a time, working with up to 200 labelers both internally and externally.
  • Work with machine learning engineers to identify possible risks in their training data, developed plans to mitigate bias when labeling and sourcing data.
  • Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and strategic project roadmaps for several cross-functional teams that track project objectives, design to release, change management, and securing labeling resources.
  • Managed the data pipeline and AI operations programs, leveraging SQL and Mode dashboards to analyze performance, implement process improvements, and ensure the delivery of high-quality data.
  • Advocate for the machine learning teams within MLDE; prioritizing projects and engineering features to ensure they can hit key perception team deadlines.
Senior MAPs Production Specialist, Advanced Technologies Group
Uber ATG (acquired by Aurora Innovation)
June 2019 - January 2021
  • Monitored testing procedures to ensure all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.
  • Performed validations or transfers of analytical methods in accordance with applicable policies or guidelines.
  • Built out reporting dashboards for the production team, writing SQL queries in Redash and pulling data from Snowflake.
  • Led onboarding and creation of 100+ person business process outsourcing (BPO) team in Manila.
  • Worked on the Ground Truth labeling team.
  • Managed AI/ML labeling projects used in computer vision models for autonomous vehicles.
  • Developed plans that included an analysis of the quality of training data and a cost-benefit analyses for training data projects.
  • Regularly worked with Ruby within a Rails framework to facilitate project workflows and performed project data analysis with R/RStudio and SQL.
Quality Assurance Analyst
Mighty AI (acquired by Uber ATG)
July 2018 - June 2019
  • Monitored testing procedures to ensure all tests are performed according to established item specifications, standard test methods, or protocols.
  • Performed validations or transfers of analytical methods in accordance with applicable policies or guidelines.
  • Built out reporting dashboards for the production team, writing SQL queries in Redash and pulling data from Snowflake.
  • Led onboarding and creation of 100+ person business process outsourcing (BPO) team in Manila.

Professional Skills

Management Skills

Program & Project Management Agile/Scrum Stakeholder Management Managing Remote Teams Quantitative Research Data Analysis Data Delivery Strategic Planning

Technical Skills

SQL (Postgres, Snowflake, Athena) PrestoDB, JQL Atlassian Tools (Jira, Confluence) R (RStudio) Advanced Excel Dashboarding (Mode, Redash, Periscope) Smartsheets

Education

Masters in Economics
California State University, Long Beach
NCAA Division One Water Polo
Bachelors in Economics
California State University, Long Beach
NCAA Division One Water Polo

Certifications

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Databricks Fundamentals
Databricks
Generative AI Fundamentals
Databricks
Data Landscape of GenAI for Project Managers
Project Management Institute
Generative AI for Project Managers
Project Management Institute

Awards & Achievements

Eagle Scout

Connect With Me

I'd love to hear from you about opportunities or collaborations. Please feel free to reach out through LinkedIn or email me directly at leegriffin54@gmail.com.