Director of Data Science & AI Innovation

Principal Financial Group; United States; Hybrid; USD 165,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Principal Financial Group is seeking a Director of Data Science to lead the Beam Benefits Decision Science team, guiding a highly technical group in generative AI, ML, predictive modeling, and analytics. You will shape technical direction and scale innovative AI-driven solutions across the Benefits & Protection space.

You will collaborate with Product, Engineering, IT, and business units to identify high-value opportunities, define problem statements, and deliver scalable, production-ready data

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; 10+ years in ML/data science preferred.
• Experience leading data science teams and delivering production-ready models.
• Strong background in statistics, ML, optimization, and handling large datasets.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of data scientists focused on generative AI, ML, predictive modeling, and analytics.
• Set technical direction and evaluate emerging AI/ML models for business impact.
• Oversee end-to-end model development from problem definition to deployment and monitoring.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to translate capabilities into business outcomes.
• Establish metrics for model performance, production readiness, and adoption.

Skills

Leadership

Generative AI

Machine Learning

Data Modeling

Python

Cloud Platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Python

TensorFlow/PyTorch

APIs

Job description

Principal Financial Group is seeking a Director of Data Science to lead the Beam Benefits Decision Science team, guiding a highly technical group in generative AI, ML, predictive modeling, and analytics. You will shape technical direction and scale innovative AI-driven solutions across the Benefits & Protection space.

You will collaborate with Product, Engineering, IT, and business units to identify high-value opportunities, define problem statements, and deliver scalable, production-ready data