Sr. Director, Data Science & AI

As we accelerate our transformation into an enterprise powered by data and AI we are seeking a Senior Director of Data Science & AI to serve as the strategic architect and operational leader of our data science and artificial intelligence-based solutions. This role goes well beyond managing modelsit is about shaping how AI fundamentally transforms how we understand our consumers optimize our operations and make decisions across every channel and market. 

Reporting directly to the VP of Analytics & Planning you will own the enterprise AI and data science strategy build and scale a world-class team and drive adoption of AI-powered solutions across merchandising supply chain marketing consumer experience and international expansion. You will be a key member of the analytics leadership team influencing executive decision-making and championing a culture of experimentation and data-driven innovation across the organization. 

What youll get to do:

Enterprise AI & Data Science Strategy 

• Define and own the multi-year AI and data science strategy aligned to enterprise growth priorities presenting roadmaps and business cases directly to the C-suite and board. 
• Establish the organizations AI visionidentifying where machine learning generative AI and advanced analytics create the highest-leverage impact across the value chain. 
• Lead the evaluation and adoption of emerging AI capabilities (LLMs agentic AI computer vision NLP) and determine fit-for-purpose applications across business domains. 
• Drive the build-vs-buy strategy for AI/ML platforms and tools partnering with engineering leadership to shape the technology ecosystem. 

Operational Leadership & Execution 

• Translate strategic priorities into an actionable portfolio of AI/data science initiatives with clear business KPIs timelines and resource plans. 
• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of AI/ML solutions: ideation experimentation development productionization monitoring and continuous improvement. 
• Establish scalable MLOps practices including model versioning automated retraining pipelines drift detection and governance frameworks. 
• Create and maintain an AI use case registry that tracks initiative status business value delivered and prioritization across all domains. 

Consumer Intelligence & Personalization 

• Architect the enterprise consumer intelligence strategyunifying customer data signals to build a holistic understanding of consumer behavior preferences and lifetime value. 
• Drive production-grade AI solutions including: 
• Advanced customer segmentation (behavioral psychographic ML-based clustering) 
• Customer lifetime value modeling and predictive retention frameworks 
• Hyper-personalized recommendations across web app email and in-store 
• Churn prediction & proactive win-back strategies powered by real-time signals 
• Next-best-action engines for lifecycle marketing orchestration 
• Multi-touch attribution & media mix modeling to optimize marketing spend 
• Partner with Marketing CRM and Digital Product to embed AI into consumer-facing experiences and campaign optimization. 

Cross-Functional Influence & Business Partnership 

• Serve as the senior analytics thought partner to business leaders across Merchandising Supply Chain Retail Wholesale International and DTC channels. 
• Identify and champion AI-driven opportunities in demand forecasting inventory optimization assortment planning pricing intelligence and supply chain efficiency. 
• Collaborate with Finance and FP&A to integrate predictive models into planning cycles scenario analysis and strategic decision frameworks. 
• Influence and align with Data Engineering Data Platform and Enterprise Architecture teams to ensure infrastructure supports scalable production-ready AI workloads. 
• Represent the AI and data science function in cross-functional steering committees vendor evaluations and strategic planning sessions. 

Team Building & Organizational Development 

• Build lead and mentor a high-performing team of data scientists ML engineers and AI specialists across consumer operational and emerging AI domains. 
• Establish a center of excellence for AI and advanced analytics with reusable frameworks shared playbooks and governed best practices. 
• Create clear career development paths and a talent strategy that attracts and retains top-tier data science talent in a competitive market. 
• Foster a culture of intellectual curiosity rigorous experimentation and business-outcome orientation across the team. 
• Drive knowledge sharing and AI literacy initiatives to elevate data science capabilities across the broader analytics organization. 

Measurement Governance & Ethical AI 

• Define and own the impact measurement framework for all AI initiativestracking ROI business value and operational lift with rigor and transparency. 
• Implement robust A/B and multivariate testing programs to validate personalization targeting and optimization strategies before scaling. 
• Champion responsible AI practices including fairness explainability bias detection and compliance with data privacy regulations (CCPA GDPR). 
• Establish AI governance standards including model documentation approval workflows and regular performance audits. 

Qualifications :

Who you are:

• 15 years of progressive experience in data science machine learning or advanced analytics with at least 5 years in senior leadership roles managing multi-disciplinary teams. 
• Proven track record of building and scaling an enterprise AI/data science function from the ground up or through significant transformation. 
• Deep expertise applying AI/ML to consumer behavior personalization lifecycle marketing and demand intelligence in a B2C retail or DTC environment. 
• Demonstrated success delivering production-grade ML systems at scalenot just prototypes but models running in production driving measurable business outcomes. 
• Strong executive communication skills with the ability to influence C-suite stakeholders translate complex technical concepts into business narratives and secure investment for AI initiatives. 
• Hands-on technical depth in Python SQL and modern ML frameworks (scikit-learn PyTorch/TensorFlow Spark) with the judgment to balance technical excellence with pragmatic delivery. 
• Experience with cloud-native ML infrastructure (Snowflake Databricks AWS SageMaker or equivalent) and modern MLOps tooling. 
• Masters or PhD in a quantitative discipline (Statistics Machine Learning Computer Science Applied Mathematics or related field). 

Preferred Experience 

• Retail apparel athleisure or lifestyle brand experience where brand affinity style preferences return behavior and seasonal dynamics are critical. 
• Experience with modern MarTech and CDP ecosystems (Hightouch Braze Attentive Salesforce or similar) and embedding AI into marketing activation workflows. 
• Exposure to generative AI applications (LLMs RAG architectures AI assistants) in enterprise or consumer contexts. 
• Familiarity with real-time ML serving and personalization engines for web app and in-store experiences. 

Additional Information :

Our investment in you:

At Vuori were proud to offer the following to our employees: 

• Health Insurance 
• Savings and Retirement Plan  
• Employee Assistance Program 
• Generous Vuori Discount & Industry Perks 
• Paid Time Off  
• Wellness & Fitness benefits  

The salary range for this role is $215300 per year - $288225 per year. This role is bonus eligible.

Vuori is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex gender identity sexual orientation race color religion national origin disability protected Veteran status age or any other characteristic protected by law.  

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time