Director, Cross-Line AI/ML Research & Capability

Mercury Insurance; United States; On-site; USD 107,000 - 331,000; Full time

Job summary

Mercury Insurance seeks a Director to lead the Cross-Line AI/ML Research & Capability team within Product R&D. This role shapes research practices across Private Passenger Auto, Homeowners, Commercial Auto, and Commercial Multi-Peril, building scalable capabilities and modern workflows.

The candidate will drive strategy and execution, partnering with Product R&D, MTS, and EDS to accelerate insight generation, model development, monitoring, and product innovation in a regulated insurance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a quantitative field such as data science, engineering, math, statistics, actuarial science, or related discipline.
• Master’s or Ph.D. degree in a quantitative field.
• 8+ years of predictive modeling, machine learning, advanced analytics, or related quantitative work.
• 3+ years analytics in insurance or financial services.
• 5+ years people leadership or comparable experience leading complex cross functional programs.
• Or equivalent combination of education/experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the crossline strategy for AI/ML-enabled research capabilities that support product and pricing innovation across multiple lines of business.
• Build and lead a small, high-leverage team focused on reusable research tooling, workflow modernization, automated model monitoring, and AI-enabled capability development.
• Partner with Product R&D leaders to identify high-value opportunities to improve research speed, depth, consistency, and scalability.
• Work closely with MTS, EDS, and other partners to shape the technical environment required for modern research, including data pipelines, feature workflows, model monitoring, and AI/ML infrastructure.
• Lead the design of processes and guardrails for human oversight, model quality, explain ability, and responsible use of AI-generated outputs.
• Help establish a more automated and observable research workflow, including opportunities in hypothesis generation, model evaluation, monitoring, and supporting documentation.
• Guide adoption and change management across teams so new capabilities are used effectively and integrated into day-to-day work.
• Stay current on relevant AI, machine learning, and research methodology developments, and translate promising ideas into practical applications for Mercury.
• Coach and develop talent in a hybrid environment where people, automation, and AI agents work together to improve outcomes.

Skills

Python

GenAI/LLM

ML frameworks

Research tooling

Leadership

Critical thinking

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in a quantitative field

Master’s or Ph.D. in a quantitative field

Job description

Mercury Insurance seeks a Director to lead the Cross-Line AI/ML Research & Capability team within Product R&D. This role shapes research practices across Private Passenger Auto, Homeowners, Commercial Auto, and Commercial Multi-Peril, building scalable capabilities and modern workflows.

The candidate will drive strategy and execution, partnering with Product R&D, MTS, and EDS to accelerate insight generation, model development, monitoring, and product innovation in a regulated insurance