Principal AI/Data Science Lead

Dice is the leading career destination for tech experts at every stage of their careers. Our client, The Evolvers Group, is seeking the following. Apply via Dice today! Role: Principal AI/Data Science Lead Work Location: 2400 Aviation Dr. Euless, TX 75261 (on site) Work Schedule: Onsite - Mon Fri, 8:00 am 5 pm Contract to Hire: Must be Authorized to Work in the US for Any Employer or be able to transfer your visa. Job Description: We are seeking a Principal AI/Data Science Lead to serve as the organization s strategic and technical authority on Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy, governance, and enterprise adoption. This role defines the vision, roadmap, and implementation for AI adoption across the enterprise, driving measurable impact while safeguarding against unintended risks, and ensuring innovation is delivered responsibly, securely, and in direct alignment with business priorities. Serves as the central point of contact for all AI-related initiatives, builds enterprise capabilities, and partners internal stakeholders to evaluate emerging technologies, identify and pilot high-value use cases, and operationalize solutions at scale across the organization. Required Experience (8+ years): • Experience in applied Data Science • Proven experience in leading cross-functional AI initiatives and developing governance structures. • Leadership in ML/AI strategy, solution delivery, and cross-functional program execution • Advanced understanding of machine learning, deep learning, and generative AI, including LLMs, transformers, RAG architectures, and model fine-tuning. • Experience leading AI efforts through strategic direction, platform/tool identification, and collaboration with technical experts. • Experience moving AI models from experimentation to production, with experience in model evaluation, explainability, and continuous improvement. • Experience designing and implementing MLOps pipelines for training, validation, deployment, monitoring, and retraining. • Experience and skill using tools such as Snowflake AI/ML, Azure ML, and Dataiku. • Experience working with cloud-based infrastructure. • Experience translating complex AI concepts into business value and communicate technical findings to non-technical audiences. • Experience in identifying AI opportunities that align with strategic objectives, quantify ROI, and prioritize initiatives based on impact and feasibility. • Experience working effectively with cross-functional teams including engineering, analytics, governance, product development, and business stakeholders. • Experience applying knowledge of responsible AI principles, including fairness, bias mitigation, transparency, and regulatory compliance. • Experience applying knowledge of AI governance frameworks, model risk management practices, and ability to align AI development with compliance and security policies. • Experience partnering with data governance or compliance teams to ensure ethical use of AI within an enterprise setting. • Experience mentoring and guiding engineers, or analytics teams through AI solution design and implementation. • Experience effectively influencing without authority and fostering a culture of innovation and responsible experimentation. • Experience managing multiple initiatives simultaneously while maintaining high standards of technical rigor and strategic alignment. Preferred Experience: • Experience leading or contributing to the creation of enterprise AI/ML platforms, AI centers of excellence, or federated AI governance models. • Experience in Snowflake architecture, including best practices for AI/ML model integration and optimization. • Experience with programming in Python and AI/ML libraries (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, Hugging Face). • Experience delivering AI models in diverse domains (e.g., forecasting, NLP, recommendation systems, computer vision) with a strong governance lens. Required Education: • Bachelor s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field Preferred Education and Certification: • Master s or PhD in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field • Advanced certifications in AI/ML (e.g., AWS Certified Machine Learning, TensorFlow Developer, Microsoft Azure AI Engineer, etc.) Responsibilities: • Defines and drives the organization's AI strategy, aligning innovation priorities with enterprise goals, governance standards, and technology infrastructure needs. • Serves as the primary contact for AI initiatives across the organization, advising leadership on capabilities, risks, compliance, opportunities, and platform selection (e.g., Snowflake, AWS, Microsoft). • Identifies, evaluates, and prioritizes AI opportunities from ideation through scalable execution, ensuring business value and measurable outcomes. • Defines and monitors AI-specific KPIs to track impact, solution reliability, adoption, and ROI, in line with business outcomes. • Stays at the forefront of AI trends and advancements, integrating relevant technologies, frameworks, industry standards, and best practices into the enterprise AI strategy. • Designs and guides implementation of enterprise-grade AI and GenAI architecture and solutions, working with technical teams to assess infrastructure needs, tool selection, and implementation paths (e.g., RAG, foundational model integration, ML pipelines). • Leads the evaluation and adoption of AI tools and platforms (e.g., Azure ML, Dataiku, Snowflake), balancing innovation with governance, scalability, and compliance requirements. • Establishes and enforces AI governance frameworks ensuring ethical, transparent, and compliant AI usage across all enterprise initiatives. • Establishes MLOps best practices across the organization and develop reusable components and patterns for ingestion, feature engineering, training, deployment, and monitoring, ensuring model traceability and reproducibility. • Develops and delivers AI solutions and frameworks, guiding internal teams through proof of concept to production, while championing reuse, model traceability, and operational excellence. • Partners with internal teams to drive organizational readiness and literacy for AI, collaborating with HR, and business units to design training, raise awareness, and support the cultural shift needed for successful AI adoption. • Performs other related duties as assigned.