Director, AI Forward Deployed Researcher

Remote, US. Posted 3 months ago

The role

The Director, AI Forward Deployed Researcher is a strategic leader and advanced AI research specialist. This person will manage a team of researchers and engineers to drive frontier AI research into production for Fortune 500 and highly regulated client organizations.

What you will do

Act as a technical and research advisor to client executive leadership
Translate frontier AI research into actionable business strategies
Manage, mentor, and scale a team of Forward Deployed Researchers and Engineers
Oversee the development and delivery of bespoke, research-backed production systems
Lead high-impact, applied AI research initiatives during 3-6 month+ onsite engagements
Design and implement advanced GenAI/LLM solutions
Build production-ready AI systems addressing data quality, evaluation, governance, and deployment
Partner with TELUS Digital Product, Engineering, and Research teams
Collaborate with Sales and Account teams on opportunity expansion
Stay at the frontier of AI models, frameworks, and deployment patterns

Required qualifications

10+ years of hands-on software engineering and AI/ML experience with production systems
4+ years in senior leadership or management roles managing technical teams of at least 5+ professionals
Proven ability to serve as a strategic advisor and technical authority to C-level stakeholders
Deep expertise in frontier GenAI/LLMs, including RAG systems, vector databases, Agentic AI, multi-agent systems, fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and in-context learning
Experience with evaluation frameworks and metrics for LLM systems
Production MLOps and deployment
Hands-on proficiency with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern AI/ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, Hugging Face)
Proven track record of success in ambiguous, complex environments with a high degree of autonomy
Excellent communication skills across technical, research, and executive audiences
Self-directed and resourceful, comfortable operating independently at client sites
Client-centric mindset
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, AI/ML, or related field

Nice to have

Advanced degree (MS/PhD in Computer Science, AI/ML, or related field)
Experience at AI platform/research companies (Anthropic, OpenAI, Palantir, Scale AI, Cohere, etc.)
Experience at top-tier consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, Deloitte)
Published technical work or recognized AI/ML expertise
Prior work in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare)
Track record of mentoring engineers and building high-performing teams
Computer vision and/or data annotation platform expertise
Multilingual capabilities
Open-source contributions or active participation in the AI research community
Experience building bespoke solutions vs. configuring off-the-shelf products

Benefits

Competitive compensation with performance bonuses
Comprehensive benefits package
Remote flexibility with meaningful client engagement

About the company

TELUS Digital is an award-winning digital product consultancy and the digital division of TELUS. They design and deliver transformative customer experiences through technology, agile thinking, and a people-first culture.