Principal AI Lead

Principal AI Lead

Contract Duration: 12 months

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Position Summary

The Principal AI Lead will serve as the strategic and technical leader driving DFW’s enterprise-wide adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This role will define the vision, architecture, and execution roadmap to integrate AI solutions across business functions in a responsible, secure, and value-driven manner. As AI capabilities rapidly evolve, the Principal AI Lead will ensure that innovation is balanced with governance, ethical integrity, and measurable business outcomes—positioning DFW as a future-ready, data-intelligent enterprise.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and lead DFW’s enterprise AI strategy, aligning innovation initiatives with corporate goals, governance standards, and risk management frameworks.
• Establish and operationalize AI governance structures, policies, and procedures to ensure responsible and ethical AI deployment.
• Architect and oversee implementation of AI solutions leveraging Generative AI, LLMs (e.g., GPT), and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems for business transformation.
• Drive the MLOps lifecycle including model design, training, validation, deployment, monitoring, versioning, and traceability across enterprise environments.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with business units, IT, data science, and security teams to identify high-impact AI use cases and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Serve as a subject-matter expert on AI innovation, guiding executive decision-making and educating stakeholders on emerging technologies and ethical AI practices.
• Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous learning, mentoring teams to build AI fluency and technical depth across the organization.
• Evaluate and integrate AI platforms (e.g., Snowflake Cortex, Azure ML, Dataiku) to ensure scalability, performance, and compliance with enterprise standards.
• Champion Responsible AI by embedding fairness, explainability, and compliance principles into model development and deployment workflows.

Required Qualifications

• 10 years of progressive experience in AI/ML engineering, data science, or related fields, with at least 5 years in enterprise AI leadership or strategy roles.
• Proven success in defining and executing AI strategies that deliver tangible business value across multiple functions.
• Proficiency in Generative AI and LLMs, including prompt engineering, fine-tuning, RAG architectures, and model evaluation.
• Expertise in MLOps frameworks—covering CI/CD for models, reproducibility, and lifecycle management.
• Hands-on experience with AI platforms such as Snowflake Cortex, Azure ML, and Dataiku, including integration and deployment at scale.
• Deep understanding of Responsible and Ethical AI principles, including governance, fairness, bias mitigation, and regulatory compliance.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to translate complex AI concepts into business language.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence at executive levels.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related field.
• Experience with cloud-native architectures and enterprise data ecosystems.
• Familiarity with federal and international AI regulatory frameworks and risk assessment models.
• Published work, patents, or conference presentations in applied AI or governance topics.

Job Type: Contract

Pay: $91.85 - $91.86 per hour

Expected hours: 40 per week

Benefits:

• Paid time off

Work Location: In person

Salary : $92 - $92