Primary Role:

The Applied Data Scientist - AI Enablement is a high-impact individual contributor role focused on building internal AI capabilities and removing systemic constraints that limit HDR's ability to scale artificial intelligence across the Transportation Business Group. In the initial phase, this role is primarily internally focused, developing AI solutions, improving data and technology foundations, and identifying bottlenecks in systems, processes, and tooling. As internal capabilities mature, the role will progressively transition to client-facing AI delivery and advisory work, leveraging internally proven solutions as repeatable services.

Utilization Expectations:
• 40% Internal AI solution development
• 40% Client AI delivery and pilot engagements (as capabilities mature) (0% year 1)
• 20% Skill development and continuous learning

Primary Responsibilities:

Internal AI Capability Development:
• Design, develop, and deploy AI solutions addressing internal transportation business needs (e.g., document intelligence, predictive analytics, copilots, workflow automation).
• Build reusable AI components, data pipelines, and workflows that can be scaled for future client delivery
• Manage full model lifecycle including development, deployment, monitoring, drift detection, retraining, and inference.

Constraint & Bottleneck Identification:
• Proactively identify limitations in data availability, system integration, tooling, governance, and processes that inhibit AI adoption.
• Partner with IT, data architects, and business stakeholders to recommend scalable improvements.
• Document technical debt and architectural gaps that must be addressed before scaling AI capacity.

Collaboration & Communication:
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to translate ambiguous problems into structured AI solutions.
• Communicate AI concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Future Client-Facing Work:
• Support client pursuits and pilot projects using internally developed AI capabilities.
• Contribute to the evolution of repeatable AI services and offerings.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list. This role requires flexibility to perform other duties as required.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Bachelor's degree in a closely related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience with generative AI and modern AI services.
• Hands-on experience developing, deploying, and maintaining data and AI solutions in cloud environments (e.g., Azure, AWS, or GCP), including cloud-native data pipelines, scalable compute, and production model deployment.
• Experience managing end-to-end data science projects and model lifecycles.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
• Advanced Degree
• Experience designing or improving data pipelines and AI infrastructure.
• Consulting or professional services experience.
• Six Sigma or other process improvement certifications.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• A degree in a closely related field or combination of education and relevant experience
• A minimum of 3 years experience with data engineering tools and languages such as SQL, Power Query, and Pandas
• A minimum of 3 years experience with business intelligence tools such as Power BI, Tableau, Plotly, Seaborn, and Matplotlib
• A minimum of 3 years experience with data science languages such as Python and R
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented professional, ability to multitask a must
• Proficiency with MS Office including Word and Outlook
• Ability to handle confidential information
• Excellent writing and people skills
• Strong math and organizational skills
• Flexibility and ability to prioritize and handle multiple tasks and various managers in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including grammar, punctuation, proofreading, spelling and telephone skills
• An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee-owned culture is a must
• In-depth knowledge of machine learning algorithms, statistical models, and data analytics
• Experience completing multiple data science projects