Enterprise Data & AI Lead - Remote

ICF; Reston (VA); Remote; USD 90,000 - 152,000; Full time

Job summary

ICF is seeking an experienced Chief Data Office / Data & AI Lead to steer enterprise data, analytics, governance, and AI-enabled capabilities for a complex federal technology services program. The role emphasizes translating business needs into secure, governed data and analytics that support executive decision-making.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in data governance, architecture, engineering, and responsible AI, with the ability to drive policy, standards, and scalable data

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• Active data, cloud, analytics, AI/ML, or data governance certification.
• 10+ years leading enterprise data, analytics, data governance, or AI-enabled analytics initiatives.
• 8+ years designing or managing enterprise data platforms and metadata management.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to federal contract requirements.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise data, analytics, governance, and AI-enabled capability delivery across a complex federal technology environment.
• Develop and implement data governance policies, standards, operating procedures, approval workflows, and accountability models.
• Establish and maintain data portfolio management practices, including prioritization, project intake, resource planning, risk tracking, milestone reporting, and performance measurement.
• Design and implement scalable data architecture, including data pipelines, data lakes, data warehouses, data marts, data catalogs, metadata repositories, and data lineage capabilities.
• Define and enforce data quality standards, validation rules, data dictionaries, scorecards, issue management workflows, and continuous monitoring processes.
• Guide development of analytics products, dashboards, reports, and visualization tools that provide operational insight and support executive decision-making.
• Support advanced analytics capabilities, including statistical analysis, predictive modeling, trend analysis, root cause analysis, and AI-enabled analytics.
• Ensure data sharing, API integration, and data access models are secure, governed, auditable, and aligned with privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance requirements.
• Partner with cybersecurity, engineering, product, and program management teams to align data platforms, applications, integrations, and analytics capabilities with enterprise standards.
• Establish reusable templates, frameworks, data models, ETL/ELT patterns, documentation repositories, and project management toolkits for data initiatives.
• Support training, documentation, and knowledge transfer to improve user adoption and long-term sustainment of data tools, dashboards, and data management practices.
• Monitor data quality, data usage, access patterns, and analytics adoption to identify risks, improvement opportunities, and operational blind spots.

Skills

Data governance

Data architecture

Analytics leadership

AI governance

Security & compliance

Regulated environments

Education

Bachelor's degree in Data Science, CS, IS, Engineering, Statistics, Math, Business Analytics, or related field

Tools

SQL

Python

R

Databricks

Snowflake

Redshift

BigQuery

Synapse

Power BI

Dataverse

Job description

Please note: This role is contingent upon a contract award. While it is not an immediate opening, ICF is actively conducting interviews and extending offers in anticipation of the award. ICF is seeking an experienced Chief Data Office / Data & AI Lead to lead enterprise data, analytics, governance, and AI-enabled capabilities for a complex federal technology services program. This role will support the design, implementation, and sustainment of data policy, standards, governance processes, portfolio management practices, data architecture, data quality controls, analytics products, dashboards, and secure data access models. The ideal candidate has demonstrated experience leading enterprise data initiatives in regulated environments, with strong technical credibility across data governance, data architecture, data engineering, analytics, data quality, metadata management, and responsible AI-enabled analytics. This role requires the ability to translate business, operational, and mission needs into governed, secure, and usable data capabilities that support decision-making, performance management, and continuous improvement.

Job Location

This position is remote within the United States.

Please note that ICF monitors employee work locations, restricts access from foreign locations and IP addresses, and prohibits the use of personal VPN connections.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead enterprise data, analytics, governance, and AI-enabled capability delivery across a complex federal technology environment.
• Develop and implement data governance policies, standards, operating procedures, approval workflows, and accountability models.
• Establish and maintain data portfolio management practices, including prioritization, project intake, resource planning, risk tracking, milestone reporting, and performance measurement.
• Lead the design and implementation of scalable data architecture, including data pipelines, data lakes, data warehouses, data marts, data catalogs, metadata repositories, and data lineage capabilities.
• Define and enforce data quality standards, validation rules, data dictionaries, scorecards, issue management workflows, and continuous monitoring processes.
• Guide development of analytics products, dashboards, reports, and visualization tools that provide operational insight and support executive decision-making.
• Support advanced analytics capabilities, including statistical analysis, predictive modeling, trend analysis, root cause analysis, and AI-enabled analytics.
• Ensure data sharing, API integration, and data access models are secure, governed, auditable, and aligned with privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance requirements.
• Partner with cybersecurity, engineering, product, and program management teams to align data platforms, applications, integrations, and analytics capabilities with enterprise standards.
• Establish reusable templates, frameworks, data models, ETL/ELT patterns, documentation repositories, and project management toolkits for data initiatives.
• Support training, documentation, and knowledge transfer to improve user adoption and long-term sustainment of data tools, dashboards, and data management practices.
• Monitor data quality, data usage, access patterns, and analytics adoption to identify risks, improvement opportunities, and operational blind spots.

What You Must Have

• Bachelor's Degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Statistics, Mathematics, Business Analytics, or a related field.
• One active data, cloud, analytics, AI/ML, or data governance certification, such as CDMP, DAMA, AWS/Azure/GCP data certification, Microsoft Power BI certification, Databricks, Snowflake, or equivalent.
• 10+ years of experience leading enterprise data, analytics, data governance, data engineering, data architecture, or AI-enabled analytics initiatives.
• 8+ years of experience designing, implementing, or managing enterprise data platforms, data pipelines, data warehouses, data lakes, data marts, data catalogs, or metadata management capabilities.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to federal contract requirements.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a Public Trust clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience establishing data governance policies, standards, stewardship models, data quality frameworks, data dictionaries, lineage practices, or data management operating models.
• 5+ years of experience delivering analytics products, dashboards, reporting capabilities, data visualizations, or executive decision-support tools.
• 5+ years of experience working in federal, public sector, healthcare, life sciences, or other regulated environments with formal privacy, security, or compliance requirements.
• 3+ years of experience supporting AI-enabled analytics, predictive modeling, machine learning workflows, anomaly detection, or advanced analytics use cases.
• 3+ years of experience with data integration methods, including APIs, ETL/ELT pipelines, data orchestration, batch processing, real-time ingestion, or change data capture.
• 3+ years of experience using data visualization, analytics, or business intelligence tools such as Power BI, Tableau, QuickSight, Looker, Palantir Foundry, or similar platforms.
• 3+ years of experience with cloud data services on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, or similar cloud environments.
• Experience supporting HHS, NIH, FDA, CMS, CDC, or other health-focused federal environments.
• Experience building or supporting Chief Data Office functions, enterprise data governance programs, or data portfolio management organizations.
• Experience with data privacy, data protection, data classification, DLP, encryption, RBAC, ABAC, just-in-time access, or audit logging requirements.
• Experience aligning data capabilities with NIST, FISMA, HIPAA, FedRAMP, GDPR, or other security and compliance frameworks.
• Experience developing data catalogs, metadata management approaches, lineage models, data quality scorecards, data issue repositories, and data stewardship workflows.
• Experience implementing AI governance, responsible AI practices, model monitoring, explainability, human-in-the-loop review, or secure AI-enabled analytics.
• Experience with SQL, Python, R, Databricks, Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, Synapse, Dataverse, or similar data platforms and tools.
• Additional cloud, data, analytics, AI/ML, cybersecurity, Agile, ITIL, DAMA, CDMP, or project management certification.

Working at ICF

ICF is a global advisory and technology services provider, but we're not your typical consultants. We combine unmatched expertise with cutting-edge technology to help clients solve their most complex challenges, navigate change, and shape the future.

We can only solve the world's toughest challenges by building a workplace that allows everyone to thrive. We are an equal opportunity employer. Together, our employees are empowered to share their expertise and collaborate with others to achieve personal and professional goals. For more information, please read our EEOP policy.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Reasonable Accommodations are available, including, but not limited to, for disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs, in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation, please email [e-mail] and we will be happy to assist. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

Read more about workplace discrimination rights or our benefit offerings which are included in the Transparency in (Benefits) Coverage Act.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

At ICF, we are committed to ensuring a fair interview process for all candidates based on their own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate or assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is not permitted. This policy is in place to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the interview process.

However, we understand that some candidates may require accommodation that involves the use of AI. If such an accommodation is needed, candidates are instructed to contact us in advance at [e-mail]. We are dedicated to providing the necessary support to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Pay Range

$89,649.00 - $152,404.00

Nationwide Remote Office (US99)