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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Director Data & AI - **Company:** ASCENT SERVICES GROUP LLC - **Location:** Gilbert, AZ, United States (Remote available) - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $170,900.0 - $244,420.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Sql Data Warehouse, Artificial Intelligence, Airflow, Microsoft Azure, Data Architecture, Information Engineering, Data Governance, Data Infrastructure, Data Warehousing, Machine Learning, Recommender Systems, Power BI, Tableau (Software), Snowflake, Generative AI, Microsoft Fabric, Information Technology, Machine Learning Operations, Cloud Optimization, Looker Analytics - **Published:** August 12, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.disabledperson.com/jobs/74201691-director-data-ai ## About the Role * Bachelor's degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, engineering, or related field required; Master's degree preferred. * 10+ years of progressive experience in data, analytics, or AI/ML; 4+ years of people management. * Hands-on experience building and operating a modern data platform on Snowflake (or equivalent cloud data warehouse). * Proven experience deploying machine learning and generative AI use cases to production, including MLOps practices. * Strong understanding of data governance, data privacy (GDPR, CCPA), and AI governance frameworks. * Experience with the modern data stack: ingestion (Fivetran, Airbyte), transformation (dbt), orchestration (Airflow, Prefect), and BI (Power BI, Tableau, Looker). * Experience working in Azure cloud environments preferred, including Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, and Microsoft Fabric. * Demonstrated ability to build and lead high-performing data and AI teams in a matrixed, MSP-supported delivery model. * Strong executive communication; able to translate complex data and AI concepts for business stakeholders. * Experience with responsible AI practices, including model documentation, bias evaluation, and ethical AI considerations. * A change agent that delivers measurable outcomes for the business through data and AI. ## Description NASM is seeking a Director of Data and AI, reporting to the Chief Information Officer. This senior leadership role owns NASM's data architecture and artificial intelligence capability. A horizontal function serving Product, Architecture, and the entirety of the business. The Director of Data and AI leads the team building and running the Snowflake data platform and the production AI/ML use cases that power business, member, trainer, and club experiences. Snowflake is the data backbone of NASM's technology landscape. This role is accountable for the integrity, performance, and trustworthiness of the data estate, the contracts that govern how source systems publish data, and the semantic layer that enables self-service analytics across the enterprise. The Director is also the engine of NASM's AI-first business enablement strategy, owning the tooling, governance, and adoption that allows the retained organization to amplify its own capacity, and partnering with the Product team to deliver AI-powered features for members, trainers, and clubs. This role establishes the AI governance practices required before AI use cases proliferate in production, including model risk, responsible AI principles, vendor evaluation, and alignment to Ascend Learning enterprise data and AI policy., * Lead and develop the Data and AI team, including a Data Architect, Data Architects and AI/ML Engineer. * Own NASM's Snowflake estate, including the data model, data contracts with source systems, performance, cost, and security. * Establish and continuously evolve the modern data stack: ingestion, transformation (dbt or equivalent), orchestration, semantic layer, and visualization tooling. * Define and execute the AI/ML strategy, prioritizing production use cases that deliver measurable business value (personalization, content recommendation, churn, study assistance, fraud). * Establish AI governance for NASM in alignment with Ascend Learning policy: model risk, responsible AI, privacy, model documentation, and AI vendor evaluation. * Drive the AI-first business enablement program, equipping product, business analysis, architecture, and operations teams with AI tooling, training, and ways of working. * Align data engineering capacity through a blended in-house and MSP model; partner with the Director of Service Delivery to oversee MSP-delivered data work. * Partner with Architecture to align the data platform with enterprise architecture standards, integration patterns, and cloud strategy. * Establish operational metrics for data quality, pipeline reliability, model performance, analytics adoption, and AI use case ROI; report to executive leadership. * Build the self-service analytics capability that empowers business users while maintaining data governance and trust. Empowering team members with AI capabilities to produce measurable improvements. * Manage strategic vendor relationships across the data and AI ecosystem (Snowflake, Microsoft, Claude, Azure AI, OpenAI, and others). ## Related Videos - [From Messy Queries to Scalable Systems - How Data Engineering actually works](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100203-from-messy-queries-to-scalable-systems-how-data-engineering-actually-works) - [Beyond Dashboards: Fixing Text-to-SQL with Semantic RAG](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2036-beyond-dashboards-fixing-text-to-sql-with-semantic-rag) - [How Cisco embraced a DevOps culture within its network engineering team](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/99-how-cisco-embraced-a-devops-culture-within-its-network-engineering-team) - [Enjoying SQL data pipelines with dbt](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/823-enjoying-sql-data-pipelines-with-dbt) - [AI Model Management Life Circles: ML Ops For Generative AI Models From Research to Deployment](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1152-ai-model-management-life-circles-ml-ops-for-generative-ai-models-from-research-to-deployment) - [REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and more: A comparison of modern API styles](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100247-rest-graphql-grpc-and-more-a-comparison-of-modern-api-styles) ## Related Articles - [How to Become an AI Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/331-how-to-become-an-ai-engineer) - [Coffee with Developers - Maria Apazoglou - Making AI understandable for all in production](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/475-coffee-with-developers-maria-apazoglou-making-ai-understandable-for-all-in-production) - [Got AI ideas but no money? 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