AI Director

Gilbane is seeking a seasoned and forward-thinking AI Director with a strong foundation in IT, proven experience in data and AI, and a passion for turning innovation into enterprise impact. In this leadership role, you will guide a small team of AI Solutions Analysts and act as the key architect and delivery owner for AI solutions that connect advanced capabilities with real-world business value. This role will report to the Chief Growth and Strategy officer

You will work closely with business leaders and functional teams to identify and prioritize high-value AI opportunities, ensuring that solutions are technically sound, scalable, and aligned with strategic priorities. Beyond model development, you will lead the integration of AI into existing systems, oversee end-to-end deployment, and establish the engineering standards, governance, and best practices needed to scale AI responsibly and efficiently across the enterprise.

This position is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of technology, product, and leadership - a hands-on director and team builder who can bridge vision and execution. You will play a pivotal role in shaping the enterprise AI ecosystem, transforming ideas into robust, production-ready solutions that accelerate growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage.

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of AI Solutions Analysts; set goals, review performance, and grow skills.
• Allocate work, remove blockers, and establish delivery rituals (stand‑ups, code reviews, demos, retros).
• Model engineering best practices, documentation standards, and a culture of reliability and accountability.
• Develop and lead Gilbane AI strategy in alignment with business goals and digital transformation initiatives.
• Design, develop and deploy high-impact AI solutions (GenAI and traditional ML) that enhance project delivery, safety, operational efficiency. Workforce enablement, client enablement and unlock new value.
• Own full lifecycle: discovery, prototyping, testing, hardening, deployment, and post‑launch iteration
• Ensure integration with existing systems and workflows.
• Document technical designs, processes, and outcomes for knowledge sharing and scalability and provide training, and support to drive AI adoption across teams.
• Evaluate and recommend AI tools, platforms, and technologies (buy vs build).
• Monitor performance to ensure high-quality, scalable solutions.
• Stay updated on emerging AI trends and technologies, risks and opportunities. to ensure the organization remains competitive.
• Partner with business owners to frame problems, define success metrics, and prioritize a clear backlog. Collaborate with the IT team and other support functions.
• Translate business requirements into engineering tasks and acceptance criteria; communicate status and risks proactively.
• Prepare and deliver executive‑ready updates and demonstrations.
• Work with IT and data teams to source, prepare, and govern high‑quality data.
• Design feature pipelines and governance strategies.
• Embed Responsible AI controls (privacy, security, bias testing, explainability) into each lifecycle stage and ensure AI solutions adhere to ethical guidelines, data privacy regulations, and Responsible AI principles. Address potential biases in AI models and ensure transparency.
• Produce and maintain model/solution documentation (model cards, data lineage, evaluation results, user guidance).
• Manage relationships with external AI vendor, consultants, and technology providers.
• Coordinate with Legal/Compliance on data use and third‑party tools.
• Create user training, quick‑start guides; measure adoption and satisfaction.
• Gather feedback, prioritize enhancements, and drive continuous improvement.
• Define and track KPIs (e.g., cycle‑time reduction, accuracy/quality uplift, cost‑to‑serve, user adoption) to measure success of AI solutions (ROI).
• Report outcomes and lessons learned; Continuously monitor and optimize AI models and systems and capture reusable components (prompts, evaluators, connectors) in a shared library.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE:

• 8+ years of experience in AI or related field.
• Expertise in AI / ML, deep learning, NLP, predictive analytics and modern AI architectures.
• Experience managing and collaborating with external AI vendors, consultants and integrators.
• Proficiency in programming languages.
• Experience with cloud platforms
• Expertise in designing scalable and secure AI architectures.
• Knowledge of microservices, APIs, and system integration.
• Strong understanding of data engineering, data pipelines, and data governance.
• Familiarity with big data technologies.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work with cross-functional teams.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills to translate business needs into AI opportunities that drive efficiencies and speeds.
• Strong leadership skills and demonstrated ability in leading small team.
• Proven experience in enterprise-scale AI/ML solution building and deployment.
• Background in software engineering, data science, or related fields.

• Certifications in AI/ML or cloud platforms (e.g., Azure AI Engineer, AWS Certified Machine Learning).
• Experience with Responsible AI frameworks and ethical AI practices.
• Experience in a build environment and familiarity with industry data sources and workflows, including BIM, digital twins, IoT, scheduling, estimating, safety systems, and projects control are a plus.

Salary to be determined based on factors such as geographic location, skills, education, and/or experience of the applicant, as well as the internal equity and alignment with the team.

For Rhode Island this ranges from $225,000-$290,000 plus benefits and retirement program.

Gilbane offers an excellent total compensation package which includes competitive health and welfare benefits and a generous profit-sharing/401k plan. We invest in our employees’ education and have built Gilbane University into a top training organization in the construction industry. Qualified applicants who are offered a position must pass a pre-employment substance abuse test.

Gilbane is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or disability status.

Note to Recruiters, Placement Agencies, and Similar Organizations: Gilbane does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies. Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our jobs alias, website, or to any Gilbane employee. Gilbane will not pay fees to any third party agency or firm and will not be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. Unsolicited resumes received will be considered property of Gilbane and will be processed accordingly.