Lead Data Scientist - Applied AI

About the role

84.51° Overview:

84.51° is a retail data science, insights and media company. We help The Kroger Co., consumer packaged goods companies, agencies, publishers and affiliates create more personalized and valuable experiences for shoppers across the path to purchase.

Powered by cutting-edge science, we utilize first-party retail data from more than 62 million U.S. households sourced through the Kroger Plus loyalty card program to fuel a more customer-centric journey using 84.51° Insights, 84.51° Loyalty Marketing and our retail media advertising solution, Kroger Precision Marketing.

84.51° follows a 5‑day in‑office work schedule to support collaboration, alignment, and team connection.

Join us at 84.51°!

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Lead Data Scientist, Applied AI, AI Enablement (P4656)

Summary

We are seeking an experienced Lead Data Scientist to serve as an AI Engineer for our Applied AI team. The Applied AI team is a group of data scientists and engineers that drive co-development and integration of AI solutions throughout the Kroger and 84.51 businesses. We work with a variety of teams to build AI Agents, implement Embeddings-based solutions, and apply proprietary language models to enhance business processes.

Responsibilities

Work with business teams to co-develop AI solutions, including AI Agents, for their business

Mentor and lead work for junior members of the team

Quickly upskill on stakeholder domains, technologies, and ways of working

Proactively identify and evaluate business use cases that can be solved with AI

Design and execute rapid proof of concepts to demonstrate business value and feasibility for specific business problems to gain buy-in

Democratize learnings from projects across the business via creation of cookbooks, trainings, and informal presentations

Provide technical guidance for production implementations and troubleshoot integration challenges.

Work cross-functionally with engineering partners and business teams to ensure solutions that are flexible and modular

Stay up to date on changes in the Generative AI, Agents, and Embeddings spaces

Qualifications and Experience

Required

Advanced degree in Data Science, ML, Computer Science, or related field; 5+ years data science experience with 2+ years in senior role

Hands-on experience with LLMs, embeddings, and AI Agents in a variety of Agent Harnesses.

Strong understanding of AI Agent Tools, Skills, and Prompting

Understanding of how to apply Embeddings to different AI projects

Strong programming in Python

Exceptional communication skills with ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences

Experience in stakeholder management, technical documentation creation, and cross-functional collaboration

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills

High level of independence to develop and own toolkits, pipelines, and dashboards.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills to work with cross-functional teams.

Ability to work in a highly collaborative environment

Strong ability to quickly adapt to new business problems and technologies

Desire to lead project work and mentor junior members of the team

Preferred

Experience deploying solutions for quick proof-of-concept work

Experience building AI Agent Evaluations and Trace

#LI-SSS

Pay Transparency and Benefits

The stated salary range represents the entire span applicable across all geographic markets from lowest to highest. Actual salary offers will be determined by multiple factors including but not limited to geographic location, relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and alignment with market data and cost of labor. In addition to salary, this position is also eligible for variable compensation.

Below is a list of some of the benefits we offer our associates:

Health: Medical: with competitive plan designs and support for self-care, wellness and mental health. Dental: with in-network and out-of-network benefit. Vision: with in-network and out-of-network benefit.

Wealth: 401(k) with Roth option and matching contribution. Health Savings Account with matching contribution (requires participation in qualifying medical plan). AD&D and supplemental insurance options to help ensure additional protection for you.

Happiness: Paid time off with flexibility to meet your life needs, including 5 weeks of vacation time, 7 health and wellness days, 3 floating holidays, as well as 6 company-paid holidays per year. Paid leave for maternity, paternity and family care instances.

Pay Range

$125,000—$207,000 USD