Director, Data Science

Sun Life U.S. is one of the largest providers of employee and government benefits helping approximately 50 million Americans access the care and coverage they need. Through employers industry partners and government programs Sun Life U.S. offers a portfolio of benefits and services including dental vision disability absence management life supplemental health medical stop-loss insurance and healthcare navigation. We have more than 6400 employees and associates in our partner dental practices and operate nationwide.

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When you join Sun Life youll work with passionate colleagues and empowering leaders who support your growth and celebrate your contributions so you can make a meaningful difference in our Clients lives.

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This role provides advanced analytics leadership for an analytics agile squad within the Business Analytics function. The Director is responsible for advancing how Sun Life US uses data science GenAI and emerging AI capabilities to improve business decision-making across functional teams including Sales Underwriting and Health Capabilities. The role will identify prioritize and deliver high-value opportunities where advanced analytics and AI can improve efficiency increase consistency surface actionable insights and help business partners make better-informed decisions. As a leader within the Business Analytics organization this individual will build and develop a team of data scientists foster innovation establish analytical best practices and ensure solutions deliver measurable business value while maintaining appropriate governance quality and trust.

This position reports to the AVP Business Analytics within the Health and Risk Solutions business. The Director is accountable for the end-to-end delivery deployment adoption and ongoing improvement of advanced analytics and GenAI-based solutions supporting the assigned roadmap. This includes capabilities that retrieve synthesize summarize and structure information from RFP materials census data claimant information underwriting content and clinical data to support business workflows across Sales Underwriting and Health Capabilities. The role is also responsible for evaluating where Agentic AI can safely and effectively augment business processes through orchestration of information gathering analysis recommendations and workflow coordination while maintaining appropriate human oversight and governance. The Director will partner closely with business stakeholders technology and governance teams to translate business needs into scalable solutions drive adoption measure business impact and continuously improve decision effectiveness.

What will you do

• Lead advanced analytics and GenAI-based solution development for initiatives that support Sales Underwriting and Health Capabilities business partners.
• Translate business problems into clear analytics product requirements success measures implementation plans and adoption strategies.
• Develop and scale reusable GenAI capabilities that retrieve synthesize summarize and structure complex RFP case claimant census and clinical information.
• Explore opportunities to apply Agentic AI to augment multi-step sales underwriting and clinical processes where it can improve information gathering decision support workflow efficiency and consistency of business outcomes.
• Partner with Sales Underwriting Health Capabilities technology and governance stakeholders to deliver solutions that are workflow-ready scalable secure and compliant.
• Apply expertise in data science machine learning GenAI validation and quality controls to ensure solutions are accurate reliable explainable and fit for business use.
• Drive solution adoption by partnering with business leaders and SMEs on training feedback capture change management and measurement of productivity decision quality and business value.
• Manage and develop a team of data scientists balancing team development delivery priorities and long-term capability building.
• Monitor solution performance user feedback data quality model behavior and business outcomes to identify enhancements and ensure sustained value after deployment.
• Communicate technical concepts risks recommendations and business impact clearly to technical and non-technical audiences including senior stakeholders.

What will be needed to succeed

• Demonstrated expertise with a broad range of programming languages applications and data environments (e.g. Python SQL Snowflake Dataiku)
• Demonstrated expertise in data science including conditioning modeling integration visualization deployment support and ongoing monitoring
• Strong knowledge of the fundamental statistical machine learning AI and GenAI underpinnings of data science
• Experience leading GenAI or AI-enabled solutions that synthesize unstructured and structured information into business-ready outputs
• Experience evaluating emerging Agentic AI capabilities and identifying where human-in-the-loop automation can safely augment repeatable business processes and improve decision-making
• Commitment to data compliance model governance responsible AI information security and appropriate handling of sensitive health and business information
• Excellent business acumen to understand why and how the work will impact Sales Underwriting Health Capabilities and broader Sun Life US stakeholders
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with an ability to explain technical concepts trade-offs risks and recommendations to a non-technical audience
• BS/MS/PhD in a statistical mathematical or technical field (e.g. computer science data science)
• 10/8/6 years of experience in developing implementing and scaling data science machine learning AI or GenAI-enabled solutions

What will be nice to have

• MS/PhD preferably in a statistical mathematical or technical field (e.g. computer science data science)
• Experience with Employee Benefits Commercial Dental Group Medical Stop Loss or other group insurance products preferred.
• Experience developing or leading GenAI-enabled information retrieval summarization document intelligence or workflow automation solutions preferred.
• Experience applying AI agents workflow orchestration or decision-support automation to business processes with appropriate controls oversight and measurable outcomes preferred.
• Experience partnering with Sales Underwriting Clinical or related business teams to embed analytics into operational workflows preferred.

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We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees feel they belong are supported and empowered to thrive. We are dedicated to building teams with varied experiences backgrounds perspectives and ideas that benefit our colleagues clients and the communities where we operate. We encourage applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.

Life is brighter when you work at Sun Life

At Sun Life we prioritize your well-being with comprehensive benefits including generous vacation and sick time market-leading paid family parental and adoption leave medical coverage company paid life and AD&D insurance disability programs and a partially paid sabbatical program. Plan for your future with our 401(k) employer match stock purchase options and an employer-funded retirement account. Enjoy a flexible inclusive and collaborative work environment that supports career growth. Were proud to be recognized in our communities as a top employer. Proudly Great Place to Work Certified in Canada and the U.S. weve also been recognized as a Top 10 employer by the Boston Globes Top Places to Work for two years in a row. Visit our website to learn more about our benefits and recognition within our communities.

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