Data & AI Strategy Leader: Snowflake & AI-First Growth

Ascend Learning; Gilbert, Northern (AZ, KY); Hybrid; USD 171,000 - 244,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Paid time off & parental leave

Employee assistance program

Wellness programs (Headspace & Airvet)

Charitable matching

Job summary

Ascend Learning is seeking a Director of Data and AI to lead NASM’s data architecture and AI capability. Reporting to the CIO, this senior role guides the Snowflake data platform and production AI/ML use cases powering members, trainers, and clubs.

You will establish AI governance, drive an AI-first strategy, and lead a high-performing data and AI team in a hybrid Gilbert, AZ environment with remote options across the continental United States.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in data, analytics, or AI/ML.
• 4+ years of people management.
• Hands-on experience building and operating a modern data platform on Snowflake.
• Proven experience deploying ML and generative AI in production (MLOps).
• Strong understanding of data governance and data privacy (GDPR, CCPA).
• Experience with the modern data stack: ingestion, transformation, orchestration, BI.
• Experience with Azure cloud environments (Azure AI Foundry, OpenAI, etc.).

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Data and AI team.
• Own NASM’s Snowflake estate, data contracts, performance and security.
• Evolve the modern data stack: ingestion, transformation, orchestration, semantic layer, visualization.
• Define and execute the AI/ML strategy with production use cases.
• Establish AI governance and vendor evaluation.
• Drive AI-first enablement with product, analysis, architecture and ops teams.
• Align data platform with enterprise standards and cloud strategy.
• Build self-service analytics with governance and trust.

Skills

Data leadership

AI governance

Snowflake platform

MLOps

Cloud data warehouse

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Stats/Math/Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Snowflake

Azure AI Foundry

Power BI

Tableau/Looker

dbt

Airflow

Fivetran

Airbyte

Job description

Ascend Learning is seeking a Director of Data and AI to lead NASM’s data architecture and AI capability. Reporting to the CIO, this senior role guides the Snowflake data platform and production AI/ML use cases powering members, trainers, and clubs.

You will establish AI governance, drive an AI-first strategy, and lead a high-performing data and AI team in a hybrid Gilbert, AZ environment with remote options across the continental United States.