Job alert: Y Combinator’s Liva AI offers $160K for ops lead in voice data collection

Liva AI, a Y Combinator S25 startup, is hiring a Founding Operations Lead to scale their human voice and video data collection operations. The San Francisco-based company aims to build “the world’s richest library of human voice and video data” to power more realistic AI voices and faces that capture diverse ethnicities, accents, and professional backgrounds.

What you should know: This is a demanding founding role requiring relocation to San Francisco and a commitment to working 12-hour days, six days a week.
• The position offers $120K-$160K salary plus comprehensive benefits including free food, equipment, wellness support, and paid family leave.
• Candidates need 3+ years of experience managing people and must be extremely organized problem-solvers.
• The role involves planning and executing multiple data collection projects while improving internal AI agent workflows.

The big picture: Liva AI is addressing a key limitation in current AI technology—the flat, generic quality of AI-generated voices and faces that lack emotional nuance and diverse representation.
• The two-person startup, founded by Ashley Mo and Aoi Otani, is building infrastructure to make AI interactions feel “truly human.”
• The company is developing automated operations systems that blend human oversight with AI agents for scalable data processing.

Why this matters: As AI voices and video generation become more prevalent across industries, the quality and diversity of training data directly impacts how realistic and inclusive these technologies become.
• Current AI voices often lack the emotional depth and cultural authenticity needed for meaningful human-AI interactions.
• Liva’s focus on diverse representation across ethnicities, races, accents, and professions could help address bias issues in AI-generated content.

What they’re looking for: The ideal candidate combines operational excellence with AI expertise and consulting-level work intensity.
• Required qualifications include experience managing people, strong organizational skills, and genuine interest in AI agents and data operations.
• Preferred background includes 1-2 years in consulting, investment banking, or product management, plus previous experience with AI agents or machine learning.