The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc

AVP Applied AI

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc • $182K — $273K *
Chicago, IL 60629Hybrid
Finance & Insurance
11 - 15 years of experience
2 months ago
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years of relevant experience with a Bachelor's degree; Master's or Ph.D. preferred in a technical field.
  • 7-10+ years of leadership experience managing senior leaders and large portfolios.
  • Strong technical fluency in applied AI and regulatory compliance standards.
  • Expertise in unstructured data management and retrieval methodologies.
  • Proficient in AI governance, model risk management, and responsible AI practices.
  • Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans across teams.
  • Ability to communicate complex technical risks and business impacts effectively.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and manage large, complex Applied AI portfolios aligned with organizational priorities.
  • Ensure AI solutions deliver tangible business value while adhering to security and operational standards.
  • Lead and cultivate a team of senior directors, enhancing leadership capabilities within the organization.
  • Provide technical guidance and oversight in AI project execution and standards adherence.
  • Evaluate architectural choices and production readiness for AI initiatives across the portfolio.
  • Establish evaluation frameworks and governance processes for AI portfolio oversight.
  • Manage data practices and compliance, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and enterprise standards.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work schedule with flexible office attendance in major cities.
  • Exposure to cutting-edge AI technologies and methodologies.
  • Opportunities for professional development and leadership coaching.
  • Collaboration with senior executives and cross-functional teams.
  • A focus on continuous improvement and operational resilience.
Full Job Description
AVP Data Science - GD05AE

The Assistant Vice President (AVP), Applied AI leads data science, traditional machine learning, and agentic AI capabilities supporting The Hartford's Business Insurance. This role partners closely with underwriting, product, actuarial, and technology leaders to deliver scalable, production ready models and -AI driven- decision systems that support complex risks, bespoke products, and profitable growth across specialty markets.

This role will have a Hybrid work schedule, with the expectation of working in an office (Chicago, IL, Hartford, CT or Charlotte, NC) 3 days a week. Candidates must be eligible to work in the US without company sponsorship.

Primary Job Responsibilities
  • Own delivery, performance, and risk outcomes for one or more large, complex Applied AI portfolios spanning multiple teams, domains, or lines of business. Translate enterprise and business-unit AI priorities into multi-year portfolio roadmaps and investment plans.
  • Ensure applied AI solutions deliver measurable business value while meeting standards for security, reliability, explainability, fairness, safety, and cost efficiency across solution types including generative and agentic AI, retrieval-augmented systems, forecasting, recommendation systems, anomaly or fraud detection, and multimodal use cases.
  • Lead and develop Sr. Directors and Directors. Build leadership bench strength through succession planning, coaching, and capability development. Ensure consistent application of the Applied AI operating model, decision rights, delivery discipline, and escalation paths across the portfolio. Reinforce shared expectations for quality, evaluation rigor, and production readiness.
  • Provide portfolio-level technical direction and rigorous oversight, partnering closely with Principal ICs, Architecture, AI Platform, and Centers of Excellence. Ensure consistent adoption of approved AI standards, patterns, and guardrails.
  • Review and thoughtfully evaluate portfolio-level architectural choices, evaluation approaches, production readiness, and operational risk signals, guiding leaders through disciplined trade-offs across quality, grounding, latency, cost, scalability, and regulatory risk.
  • Accountable for consistent application of evaluation and monitoring practices across the portfolio. Ensure evaluation frameworks span classification, information retrieval, RAG/chat, forecasting, and customer or operational KPIs. Oversee governance of metric taxonomies, thresholds, validation evidence, gold and synthetic test sets, A/B testing practices, drift detection, failure-mode analysis, and incident response expectations. Ensure evaluation results inform prioritization, release decisions, and risk management at the executive level.
  • Set portfolio-level expectations and governance for unstructured data and retrieval practices, including document ingestion pipelines, parsing, OCR, layout-aware extraction, metadata and lineage management, access controls, PII detection and redaction, and auditability. Ensure retrieval strategy decisions, including embedding approaches, hybrid and dense retrieval patterns, reranking, grounding validation, and multilingual considerations, align with enterprise standards and regulatory requirements.
  • Accountable for portfolio-level AI governance ensuring alignment with Legal, Compliance, Model Risk, Privacy, Security, and Audit partners. Maintain readiness for audits and regulatory review by ensuring governance artifacts, controls, escalation paths, and operational evidence are consistently established and enforced. Escalate material risks, trade-offs, and investment decisions to VPs with clear options and implications.
  • Partner with senior leaders across Product, Technology, Operations, Claims, Underwriting, Finance, and HR to align Applied AI delivery with business outcomes. Influence portfolio funding, prioritization, and workforce planning through evidence-based assessments of delivery performance, evaluation outcomes, and risk considerations.
  • Oversee portfolio-level planning, dependencies, resourcing, and financial stewardship. Adjust plans to address shifting priorities, capacity constraints, emerging technical risks, or regulatory changes. Drive continuous improvement in delivery effectiveness, operational resilience, governance maturity, and value realization across the Applied AI portfolio.

Skills
  • Demonstrated experience leading large, complex Applied AI portfolios in regulated enterprise environments.
  • Proven ability to lead Sr. Directors and Directors, building durable leadership capacity and consistent operating discipline across organizations.
  • Strong technical and regulatory fluency across applied AI, including generative and agentic AI, retrieval-augmented systems, evaluation and monitoring practices, and production AI operations, sufficient to review, inform, and govern senior-level decisions.
  • Applied understanding of unstructured data and retrieval approaches, including document ingestion pipelines, OCR, layout-aware extraction, embeddings, hybrid and dense retrieval, reranking, metadata and lineage management, and PII controls.
  • Deep familiarity with AI governance, model risk management, responsible AI practices, and compliance-by-design expectations.
  • Demonstrated success translating strategy into coordinated execution and investment decisions across multiple teams over multi-year horizons.
  • Ability to influence VPs and senior partners through clear, data-driven communication of technical trade-offs, evaluation outcomes, portfolio risks, and business impact.

Education, Experience, Certifications and Licenses
  • 12+ years of applicable experience with a Bachelor's degree; fewer years may be accepted with a higher degree. Master's or Ph.D. preferred in Machine Learning, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, Computer Science, or a similar analytical field, or progress towards a relevant professional designation.
  • 7-10+ years leading leaders, large portfolios, or complex programs.


Compensation

The listed annualized base pay range is primarily based on analysis of similar positions in the external market. Actual base pay could vary and may be above or below the listed range based on factors including but not limited to performance, proficiency and demonstration of competencies required for the role. The base pay is just one component of The Hartford's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include short-term or annual bonuses, long-term incentives, and on-the-spot recognition. The annualized base pay range for this role is:

$182,400 - $273,600

About The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc

The Hartford is an industry leading provider of property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds. Throughout our rich history of more than 200 years, countless businesses and individuals, including Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln and Babe Ruth, have turned to our company for protection. The Hartford celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2010.

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. Careers

Join the esteemed team at The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., a leader in investment and insurance, where we offer more than just job opportunities—we provide a platform for professional growth and innovation. As one of the most respected names in the financial services industry, The Hartford is dedicated to fostering a culture of diversity, leadership, and continuous development.

Work You’ll Do

Embark on a career with The Hartford and contribute to our mission of helping customers achieve amazing financial outcomes. You will have the chance to work alongside a team of experts who are not only skilled in their fields but are also passionate about making a difference.

Transform Your Career

At The Hartford, we believe in nurturing talent through comprehensive training programs and robust career development opportunities. Our commitment to professional growth is evident in our dynamic leadership and diversity training programs that prepare you for the future.

Innovate with Us

Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at The Hartford. Join us and bring your unique perspective to help shape the future of financial services. Our collaborative environment encourages creativity and is the perfect place to advance your skills in groundbreaking ways.

Be Part of a Great Team

The Hartford is not just a company; it's a community. We pride ourselves on a workplace culture that upholds the values of inclusivity and teamwork. By joining us, you’ll work on diverse teams that value your insights and encourage networking and mutual support.

Future-Proof Your Career

With a wide range of job opportunities, from internships to full-time positions, The Hartford offers a path for everyone. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your career to the next level, we provide the tools and support needed to succeed. Our benefits package is designed to ensure that our team members are well taken care of, not only at work but in all aspects of life.

Explore Job Opportunities and Internships

Whether you're polishing your resume, preparing for an interview, or seeking to enhance your employment experience, The Hartford has a position to match your skills and ambitions. We are continuously hiring and looking for new talent to join our thriving team.

Stay Connected

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Learn more about The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc
Size
18,500 employees
Market Cap
$24.1 billion
Industry
Finance & Insurance
Net Income
$1.7 billion
Founded
1810
5 Year Trend
+6.5%
Revenue
$20.5 billion
NASDAQ
HIG
* Ladders Estimates

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