Retail Specialist

DigiNo; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Cincinnatus LLC is seeking a seasoned Retail SME to join its GenAI initiative and help evaluate AI model outputs against real-world retail rubrics. You will support research and engineering teams to bring retail judgment to AI training data and ensure high-quality evaluations.

Ideal candidates have 8+ years in retail, proven ability to work 35 hours weekly, and strong communication and problem-solving skills. This is a W-2 engagement with potential placement at a leading AI Lab.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional experience in retail (merchandising, category management, operations, buying/planning) at top-tier organizations.
• Hands-on experience evaluating LLM/AI model outputs against rubrics or structured scoring criteria.
• Demonstrable career progression (e.g., Category Manager, Senior Manager, Director).

Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps in retail merchandising, category management, and operations reasoning.
• Design challenging retail tasks and write accurate, well-reasoned solutions grounded in real retail practice.
• Evaluate AI model outputs against rubrics and provide clear, written feedback on correctness, judgment, and reasoning quality.
• Develop and refine evaluation guidelines and scoring rubrics specific to retail tasks.
• Collaborate with other SMEs to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

Skills

Retail experience

AI model evaluation

Career progression

Written communication

Job description

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team to be at the core of the AI revolution, where your expertise fuels the development of the most advanced Large Language Models.

1. Overview

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team and help build foundational AI models from the ground up. We're seeking talented Retail subject-matter experts (SMEs) with deep domain expertise and hands-on experience evaluating AI model outputs against rubrics to bring rigor and real-world retail judgment to our AI training data.

This is a W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, with the opportunity to be placed at a leading AI Lab as part of their extended workforce.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Guide research and engineering teams to close knowledge gaps in retail merchandising, category management, and operations reasoning.

• Design challenging, domain-relevant retail tasks and write accurate, well-reasoned solutions grounded in real retail practice.

• Evaluate AI model outputs against structured rubrics and provide clear, written feedback on correctness, judgment, and reasoning quality.

• Develop and refine evaluation guidelines and scoring rubrics specific to retail tasks.

• Collaborate with other subject matter experts to ensure consistency and accuracy in training data.

3. Core Qualifications

• 8+ years of dedicated professional experience in retail (e.g., merchandising, category management, retail operations, buying/planning) at a recognized, top-tier organization (e.g., Amazon, Walmart, Target, Nike, Costco, Home Depot, or equivalent).

• Prior hands-on experience evaluating LLM/AI model outputs against rubrics or structured scoring criteria — mandatory; please describe this experience in your application.

• Demonstrable career progression (e.g., Category Manager Senior Manager Director of Merchandising).

• Ability to engage reliably for at least 35 hours/week during weekdays.

• Verbal and written communication skills, problem-solving skills, and interpersonal skills.

About Cincinnatus LLC:Cincinnatus LLC is an enterprise staffing company that partners with leading technology companies to source and employ highly skilled professionals for contingent and contract-based opportunities. Cincinnatus serves as the employer of record for these engagements, providing W-2 employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance, while placing employees directly within client teams to work on high-impact initiatives.

Equal Employment Opportunity:Cincinnatus is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.