Location Designation:Hybrid - 3 days per week

In this role, you will collaborate with business and operational leaders to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques to solve complex problems, generate insights, and enable data-driven strategies. You will also guide and mentor junior data scientists, providing technical leadership and career development support. Working closely with product managers, data engineers, MLOps engineers, and project managers, you will drive the delivery of innovative AI solutions that are aligned with evolving business needs. You will have a seat at the table with senior business stakeholders and are expected to champion new ideas that advance AI adoption while playing a key role in measuring and communicating business value. Success in this fast-paced environment requires staying ahead of emerging AI trends and maintaining a competitive edge.

What You'll Do

• Provide strategic leadership across AI initiatives, driving the integration of advanced analytics and GenAI into enterprise decision-making and long-term strategy.
• Partner with the COO and embedded Tech leads to establish strategic, long-term collaboration frameworks that align functional objectives.
• Mentor and grow a high-performing AI team, fostering cross-functional collaboration to scale impact and accelerate AI maturity.
• Own and deliver business-aligned OKRs, ensuring AI initiatives are outcome-driven and tied to enterprise value creation.
• Independently lead and deliver large-scale AI/GenAI initiatives, ensuring end-to-end execution from design to deployment with minimal oversight
• Oversee full Model Development Life Cycle (MDLC) from data exploration and feature engineering to model training, validation, deployment, and performance monitoring.
• Collaborate with product, data, engineering, and MLOps teams to align AI initiatives with business needs and ensure scalable, production-ready deployment.
• Champion integration of AI and GenAI into operational workflows, partnering with MLOps to operationalize models using platforms like AWS SageMaker. Drive change management across business unit.
• Demonstrate strong technical skills, including Python, SQL, and working knowledge of cloud platforms (e.g., AWS), as well as UI tools such as React, Streamlit, or APIs to enable model consumption.
• Drive data and software vendor evaluations for small to mid-scale PoCs, ensuring alignment with technical requirements, integration feasibility, and business impact
• Infuse industry perspective by actively participating in relevant conferences and disseminating key insights across broader internal and external audiences.
• Travels to events and vendor meetings as needed (< 10%).

What You'll Bring

• Degree in AI, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in AI, advanced analytics, or business intelligence roles with a strong record of delivering measurable business impact.
• 5+ years of experience managing and scaling AI teams, with a focus on driving enterprise-wide initiatives.
• 3+ years of experience delivering production grade models for core business domains. Experience with Bias testing framework is a plus.
• Familiarity with modern platforms including Snowflake/Databricks, GitHub, and Python/SQL-based ecosystems, and demonstrated ability to lead teams leveraging these tools.
• Preferred: Experience delivering real-time AI/ML solutions in the consumer finance domain, with emphasis on speed, reliability, and compliance.
• Deep expertise in supervised and unsupervised ML models (e.g., XGBoost, deep learning, k-means), including regularization (Ridge, Lasso, Elastic Net), variable selection, feature creation (e.g., binning, transformations, category reduction), and validation methods (hold-outs, CV, bootstrap).
• Executive-level communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence and align senior stakeholders.
• Possess working knowledge and theoretical understanding of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) based GenAI architectures, including vector databases, embedding models, and orchestration layers.
• Cross-functional collaboration experience, enabling enterprise-wide analytics adoption and capability building.
• Working knowledge of AWS SageMaker, and familiarity with building or enabling UI components using React, Streamlit, or APIs for model interaction.

Pay Transparency

Salary Range:$155,000-$250,000

Overtime eligible:Exempt

Discretionary bonus eligible:Yes

Sales bonus eligible:No

Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual's experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition to base salary, employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.

Company Overview

At New York Life, our 180-year legacy of purpose and integrity fuels our future. As we evolve into a more technology-, data-, and AI-enabled organization, we remain grounded in the values that drive lasting impact.

Our diverse business portfolio creates opportunities to make a difference across industries and communities-inviting bold thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and purpose-driven innovation. Here, you'll find the rare balance of long-standing stability and forward momentum, supported by an inclusive team that honors tradition while embracing progress.

As a Fortune 100 mutual company, we offer a place to grow your skills, contribute to meaningful work, and deliver solutions that matter. Your ideas drive what's next, and your growth powers it.

Our Benefits

We provide a full package of benefits for employees - and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so that you can flourish both inside and outside of work. Click here to discover more about our comprehensive benefit options or visit our NYL Benefits Site.

Our Commitment to Inclusion
At New York Life, fostering an inclusive workplace is fundamental to who we are and how we serve our communities. We have a longstanding commitment to creating an environment where individuals can contribute their best and succeed together. This foundation is rooted in our core values of humanity and integrity, ensuring that every employee feels valued and supported. By embracing a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we achieve greater success and fulfill our promise of providing financial security and peace of mind to families across all communities. Click here to learn more about New York Life's leadership in this space.

Recognized as one of Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies, New York Life is committed to improving local communities through a culture of employee giving and volunteerism, supported by theFoundation.We're proud that due to our mutuality, we operate in the best interests of our policy owners. To learn more about career opportunities at New York Life, please visit the Careers page of www.NewYorkLife.com.

Visit our LinkedIn to see how our employees and agents are leading the industry and impacting communities.

Visit our Newsroom to learn more about how our company is constantly evolving to meet our clients' and employees' needs.

Job Requisition ID: 92384