In an interview on the “Lennys” podcast released on October 10, 2025, Scale AI’s interim CEO Jason Droege outlined his three-part hiring philosophy. Droege said he looks for candidates who are curious problem solvers, humble collaborators, and effective leaders.

Read also: What Drives Employee Loyalty in Global Logistics Companies?

“I have to interview across all kinds of expertises,” Droege said. “I can’t be an expert in everything, and so I reduce it down to just three things.” The first trait he assesses is whether someone is a “curious problem solver” and can verbally express that curiosity. His second criterion is humble collaboration, which he compared to building an organism of strengths while minimizing conflicts, a method he used when assembling the Uber Eats management team. Lastly, he seeks individuals who are good leaders.

Droege emphasized adaptability over direct experience for most roles. “If you just do those three things, I think you have a pretty high chance of success at least in an organization,” he said. “The worlds changing, right? So you do need people that are adaptable. So all the experience is not necessarily one-to-one relevant.” However, he noted that for certain expert roles, such as researchers, specific experience remains critical because “the markets moving so fast, you dont have time to train up some people.”

Droege took on the role of interim CEO at Scale in June 2025, after cofounder and CEO Alexandr Wang left the startup to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. Scale assists companies like Meta, OpenAI, and xAI by performing tasks such as rewriting chatbot responses.

This perspective aligns with other tech executives. Albert Cheng, the former head of product at Duolingo and Grammarly, recently stated that top performers are not always the most experienced, but are often those with “very high agency,” a fast “clock speed,” and energy.

Source: IndexBox Market Intelligence Platform