Director of AI Forward Deployed Researcher in United States, NV, United States for TELUS Digital
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Director of AI Forward Deployed Researcher
Req ID: Req_00181766_US
Location: United States, NV, United States
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Description
Key Responsibilities
Act as a trusted technical and research advisor to customer executive leadership (CTOs, Heads of AI, VPs of Engineering, Board Members) on overall AI strategy, roadmap, and competitive positioning
Translate frontier AI research and complex technical concepts into actionable business strategies
and implementation plans that justify premium engagement and drive measurable ROI
Shape customer understanding of what constitutes "production-ready," "scalable," and competitive" AI systems within regulated industries
Conduct market and technical landscape analysis to inform customer AI strategy and identify emerging opportunities
Provide thought leadership on AI best practices, emerging technologies, research trends, and industry benchmarks
Identify opportunities for AI adoption, value creation, and competitive advantage within customer organizations
Mentor customer AI leadership teams on research methodologies, experimentation, and validation practices
Work as part of a 2-in-a-box team where you are paired with a Sales Executive to drive revenue and find new opportunities in the Hyperscaler or AI Labs.
Oversee the development and delivery of bespoke, research-backed production systems across multiple, concurrent customer engagements
Establish best practices, technical frameworks, methodologies, and accelerators for the team that benefit multiple customers and scale across TELUS Digital
Recruit, develop, and retain top-tier Forward Deployed talent; create career development pathways and technical competency frameworks
Serve as an internal thought leader, sharing research insights, lessons learned, and best practices across the Forward Deployed Engineer community
Mentor junior Forward Deployed Engineers and Solutions Engineers on technical, consulting, and leadership skills
Foster a culture of innovation, customer-centricity, continuous improvement, and technical excellence within the team
Establish metrics, KPIs, and performance management systems for team success and customer impact
Lead high-impact, applied AI research initiatives to address the customer''s most complex and ambiguous challenges
Design and implement advanced Physical AI, World Models, GenAI/LLM solutions (e.g., Egocentric data collection, advanced RAG, multi-agent systems, custom fine-tuning, synthetic data generation, RLHF, RL Gyms) tailored to customer''s unique requirements and constraints
Build production-ready AI systems addressing data quality, evaluation, governance, and deployment challenges in regulated environments
Conduct frontier AI experiments (novel architectures, training methodologies, evaluation frameworks) with direct applicability to customer use cases
Ensure all production systems meet stringent security, compliance, performance, and scalability requirements for Fortune 500 and highly regulated clients
Integrate TELUS Digital capabilities with customer infrastructure, data platforms, and workflows
Architect systems that customers can operate and evolve long-term with reduced dependency on external support
Own end-to-end delivery from discovery, research, and validation through production deployment and optimization
Partner with TELUS Digital Product, Engineering, and Research teams to leverage platform capabilities and inform product roadmap based on customer research insights
Collaborate with Sales and Account teams on opportunity expansion, account strategy, and customer success
Represent customer voice internally to drive product, service, and research improvements
Participate in analyst relations and thought leadership initiatives to elevate TELUS Digital''s market position
Work with other Forward Deployed Directors and Engineers to share learnings and establish organizational best practices
Stay at the frontier of AI models, frameworks, and deployment patterns; maintain hands-on expertise in cutting-edge areas
Experiment with emerging AI technologies and assess applicability to customer challenges and competitive positioning
Publish or present technical work, contributing to TELUS Digital''s thought leadership and industry recognition
Build and maintain expertise in frontier areas (LLMs, multimodal AI, agentic systems, synthetic data, RLHF, evaluation frameworks, etc.)
Document technical approaches, architectures, research methodologies, and lessons learned
Contribute to open-source projects or TELUS Digital''s technical community Qualifications
Required
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 (e.g., managing Forward Deployed Engineers, Solution Engineers, or Research teams)
Proven ability to serve as a strategic advisor and technical authority to C-level stakeholders
Deep expertise in frontier GenAI/LLMs, including:
RAG systems and vector databases
Agentic AI and multi-agent systems
Fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and in-context learning
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 customer sites and leading without direct authority
Customer-centric mindset with ability to build trust and credibility quickly with C-level stakeholders
Bachelor''s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, AI/ML, or related field Preferred
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.) in research, Forward Deployed, or leadership roles
Experience at top-tier consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, Deloitte) in technical or engineering leadership roles
Published technical work or recognized AI/ML expertise, contributing to thought leadership and industry recognition
Prior work in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare) with compliance requirements and enterprise complexity
Track record of mentoring engineers and building high-performing teams
Computer vision and/or data annotation platform expertise
Multilingual capabilities for global customer engagement
Open-source contributions or active participation in AI research community
Experience building bespoke solutions vs. configuring off-the-shelf products
What Success Looks Like First 90 Days
Successfully embedded at assigned customer account(s)
Built trust and credibility with customer technical and executive leadership
Conducted discovery and scoped research initiatives aligned with customer strategy
Established team structure, processes, and success metrics for Forward Deployed team
Delivered initial research insights, POC, or quick wins demonstrating value
Established clear research roadmap and delivery milestones
Year 1
Delivered production AI system(s) informed by applied research, driving measurable customer business outcomes
Customer views TELUS Digital as indispensable technical and research partner
Identified and scoped additional research and implementation opportunities within customer organization(s)
Mentored customer AI teams and Forward Deployed team members, building their research and production capabilities
Contributed technical and research insights that influenced TELUS Digital product/service offerings
Built reusable patterns, frameworks, or accelerators benefiting other customers and Forward Deployed Engineers
Established team as high-performing unit with strong retention and customer satisfaction ongoing
Consistently delivers high-quality, production-ready, research-backed AI solutions across multiple customer engagements
Maintains deep, trusted relationships with customer technical and executive leadership
Expands TELUS Digital footprint and influence within customer organizations
Serves as technical authority and thought leader in AI research and enterprise implementation
Mentors Forward Deployed Engineers, Solutions Engineers, and customer teams
Contributes to TELUS Digital''s thought leadership through publications, presentations, or research initiatives
Drives continuous innovation in AI solution architecture and deployment methodologies
Builds and scales high-performing Forward Deployed team with strong talent retention and career development
Work Environment
Embedded at customer locations (Fortune 500 enterprises, Hyperscalers, AI Labs, banks, healthcare organizations, AI-native companies)
Work within customer facilities alongside their engineering and AI teams
Adapt to customer culture, processes, and working styles
Build deep relationships and trust through consistent presence and technical credibility
Travel Expectations
50-60% travel to customer sites
Extended onsite engagements (weeks to months)
Occasional travel to TELUS Digital offices for team collaboration and knowledge sharing
Flexibility to support customer location as needed
Customer Types
Fortune 500 enterprises and Hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, and similar)
AI Labs and frontier AI research teams
Highly regulated industries (financial services, healthcare) with complex AI requirements
Organizations with mission-critical, research-intensive AI challenges
Geographic Focus
Customers primarily in major US metro areas (Seattle, Bay Area, Boston, New York, etc.)
Key Competencies
Technical
Production software engineering (Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL)
Frontier GenAI/LLM systems (RAG, agentic AI, fine-tuning, evaluation, vector databases)
Applied AI research methodologies and experimentation
Cloud platforms and MLOps (AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, CI/CD)
Data engineering, integration, and synthetic data generation
System architecture, scalability, and performance optimization
Model evaluation frameworks and metrics
Research & Innovation
Applied research in production environments
Frontier model evaluation and adaptation
Experimentation design and validation
Technical writing and documentation
Thought leadership and knowledge sharing
Emerging technology assessment and adoption
Consulting & Strategy
AI strategy and roadmap development
Requirements gathering and technical discovery
Stakeholder management and executive communication
Problem-solving in ambiguous, research-intensive environments
Change management and adoption strategies
Business value articulation and ROI analysis
Leadership & Management
Team leadership, recruitment, and development
Mentoring and coaching of technical professionals
Building trust and credibility quickly
Working effectively in customer cultures
Influencing without direct authority
Collaboration across organizational boundaries
Adaptability and resilience
Executive presence and communication
Performance management and KPI development
Why This Role Matters
In AI, the gap between research and production is where most organizations fail. While many companies can demonstrate AI capabilities or conduct research in isolation, few can successfully bridge cutting-edge research with complex enterprise implementations-combining frontier techniques with real data, real constraints, and real business impact.
Forward Deployed Researchers, Directors are the bridge between possibility and production. By embedding with customers and leading high-performing teams, they ensure TELUS Digital''s AI solutions don''t just impress in research papers or demos-they deliver transformative, research-backed results in the real world. They also elevate TELUS Digital''s market position from services vendor to trusted AI research and implementation partner, while building the next generation of technical leaders.
This role is for technical leaders who want to:
Conduct applied AI research with real-world impact at enterprise scale
See their research and code drive tangible business outcomes
Work on diverse, frontier AI challenges across industries
Build and mentor high-performing technical teams
Operate at the intersection of cutting-edge AI research and enterprise reality
Shape how organizations adopt and scale AI
Contribute to the advancement of AI in production environments
Grow into executive leadership within a high-growth AI company
What We Offer
Executive leadership role overseeing cutting-edge AI research and implementations with Fortune 500 enterprises
Opportunity to build and scale world-class Forward Deployed team
Exposure to diverse industries, use cases, and frontier technical challenges
Direct impact on customer success, TELUS Digital growth, and AI industry advancement
Collaboration with world-class AI researchers, engineers, and thought leaders
Professional development in AI research, consulting, and executive leadership
Opportunity to contribute to thought leadership (publications, presentations, open-source)
Competitive compensation with performance bonuses
Comprehensive benefits package
Remote flexibility with meaningful customer engagement
Clear pathway to VP and C-suite leadership roles
TELUS Digital Commitment
TELUS Digital is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion.
About Company:
TELUS Digital is the customer experience transformation partner to the world''s most admired brands. Our diverse team weaves data, technology, and human ingenuity to deliver differentiated customer journeys, drive operational effectiveness, and scale AI solutions with meaningful value and positive impact.
We craft real-world solutions in the moments that matter, from customer acquisition to lifelong loyalty. Enabled by our global reach - spanning 78,000 experts in 33 countries - and deep industry expertise, we help over 600 organizations make the customer experience feel effortless.
Our solutions span Data & AI, Digital Experience & IT, CX Management and Trust & Safety. At the core of our innovation is Fuel iX, an enterprise-grade generative AI platform that helps clients safely access and optimize leading LLMs to scale their own AI from pilot to production.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement
At TELUS Digital, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. All aspects of employment, including the decision to hire and promote, are based on applicant''s qualifications, merits, competence and performance without regard to any characteristic related to diversity.
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