Director, Data Scientist

Why USAA?

At USAA, our mission is to empower our members to achieve financial security through highly competitive products, exceptional service and trusted advice. We seek to be the #1 choice for the military community and their families.

Embrace a fulfilling career at USAA, where our core values – honesty, integrity, loyalty and service – define how we treat each other and our members. Be part of what truly makes us special and impactful.

We are proud to support active-duty military spouses. USAA roles may offer remote or hybrid flexibility for active-duty military spouses consistent with applicable policy and business needs.

The Opportunity

As a dedicated Director of Data Science, are you ready to lead the charge in transforming a major enterprise through the power of Generative AI, LLMs, and autonomous agent ecosystems? We are seeking a visionary Director of Data Science to architect and scale our next-generation AI capabilities. In this role, you will lead a high-performing team responsible for building reusable, horizontal AI platforms and solutions that drive enterprise-wide automation, innovation, and strategic differentiation. You possess the agility to navigate rapidly shifting AI paradigms, the architectural vision to design scalable systems from ideation to production-grade performance, and the leadership to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and core business value. If you thrive at the intersection of AI strategy, technical execution, and organizational transformation, we want you to lead our future.

What you will do:

• Acts as an enterprise AI thought leader and strategic advisor, shaping how the organization leverages generative AI, LLMs, and agentic workflows to drive competitive advantage and market differentiation.
• Influences business, data, and technology executives to invest in, scale, and future-proof enterprise-wide horizontal AI capabilities through active participation in strategy, planning, and budgeting.
• Directs and empowers a team of AI/Data Scientists and engineers to build and deploy scalable LLM applications, RAG pipelines, and autonomous agent systems in a fast-paced, agile environment.
• Architecturally guides the team from ideation to performant production solutions, optimizing the AI lifecycle from prompt engineering and context management to model evaluation and inference cost-efficiency.
• Champions the creation of modular, reusable horizontal AI capabilities and services that can be leveraged horizontally across disparate business units to solve complex challenges.
• Partners closely with Enterprise Architecture and IT to establish modern AI infrastructure, tooling pipelines, and scalable cloud/on-premise deployment standards.
• Ensures all AI models, agentic workflows, and generative solutions strictly adhere to emerging AI safety guidelines, model risk management (MRM) frameworks, data governance, and regulatory compliance.
• Identifies and secures strategic resource needs, ranging from next-gen LLM API integrations and specialized 3rd-party toolsets to specialized hardware and talent investments.
• Builds, inspires, and scales a world-class team of AI talent through intentional recruiting, technical mentorship, coaching, and performance management.
• Ensures risks associated with AI operations (e.g., hallucinations, data leakage, security vulnerabilities, and autonomous agent drift) are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled.

What you have:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in machine learning, advanced data science, and AI development—with a strong recent emphasis on deploying Generative AI, LLMs, or agentic systems to production—OR an Advanced Degree (Master’s or PhD) in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, or a quantitative STEM field with 6+ years of relevant experience.
• 3+ years of direct people leadership experience, building, managing, and inspiring high-performing technical teams in rapidly evolving tech landscapes.
• Proven track record of architecting and delivering scalable, high-performance horizontal AI platforms or reusable capabilities that drive cross-enterprise transformation.
• Exceptional strategic agility and flexibility, with a demonstrated history of successfully pivoting technical strategies and teams in response to rapid paradigm shifts in the AI ecosystem.
• Deep technical background in modern AI frameworks and methodologies (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, vector databases, fine-tuning, RAG architectures, prompt engineering patterns, and multi-agent orchestration).
• Comprehensive understanding of AI governance, risk mitigation (guardrails, prompt injection defense, alignment), model risk policies, and compliance expectations for automated and autonomous systems.
• Exceptional executive communication skills; a proven track record of translating complex AI architectures, ROI metrics, and technical roadmaps into compelling narratives for Senior Executive Management and non-technical stakeholders.

Compensation range: The salary range for this position is: $189,370 - $361,950

USAA does not provide visa sponsorship for this role. Please do not apply for this role if at any time (now or in the future) you will need immigration support (i.e., H-1B, TN, STEM OPT Training Plans, etc.).Compensation: USAA has an effective process for assessing market data and establishing ranges to ensure we remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range based on your experience and market data of the position. The actual salary for this role may vary by location.

Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance and at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors.

The above description reflects the details considered necessary to describe the principal functions of the job and should not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be performed in the job.

Benefits: At USAA our employees enjoy best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellness. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k), pension, life insurance, parental benefits, adoption assistance, paid time off program with paid holidays plus 16 paid volunteer hours, and various wellness programs. Additionally, our career path planning and continuing education assists employees with their professional goals.

For more details on our outstanding benefits, visit our benefits page on USAAjobs.com.

Applications for this position are accepted on an ongoing basis, this posting will remain open until the position is filled. Thus, interested candidates are encouraged to apply the same day they view this posting.

USAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.