AI Strategist-Hybrid- Des Moines, Iowa

Wellabe•Des Moines, IA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The AI Strategist, within Wellabe’s Chief Data & Analytics Office, leads how AI creates measurable business value while translating strategy into working solutions. The role connects business strategy, AI product thinking, data and technology, and responsible innovation. It translates Wellabe’s Capital, Growth, and Digital priorities into a prioritized portfolio of AI opportunities and partners with cross-functional teams to validate, prototype, implement, and scale high-value use cases. This strategist-practitioner engages executives on where AI can be applied, develops business cases and roadmaps, and works directly with data, models, prompts, prototypes, and AI platforms to assess what is feasible. The role leads AI initiatives from discovery through value realization; partners with business, data, engineering, architecture, security, and IT teams; and helps ensure solutions are scalable, supportable, responsibly governed, adopted, and tied to measurable outcomes. It also owns the lifecycle of existing enterprise AI solutions, evaluates vendors and emerging technologies, and supports organizational AI fluency and adoption.

Requirements

At least 7 years of experience spanning AI/ML, AI strategy, product management, analytics, or digital transformation, including at least 3 years in insurance or financial services.
Proven ability to define AI strategies and roadmaps and move initiatives from problem framing through experimentation, delivery, adoption, and measurable business outcomes.
Demonstrated hands-on AI/ML development experience, including the ability to independently build, test, and evaluate working Python prototypes, predictive models, and AI/ML workflows.
Ability to communicate model performance, assumptions, limitations, and business implications to technical and non-technical audiences.
Practical experience developing Generative AI and LLM solutions, including independently prototyping and evaluating prompt engineering, RAG, embeddings/vector search, structured outputs, and AI agents, and assessing their effectiveness, limitations, and production suitability.
Working knowledge of traditional machine-learning concepts, including supervised learning, feature engineering, model performance metrics, explainability, monitoring, and model lifecycle management.
Experience with cloud AI ecosystems, preferably Microsoft Azure and Databricks, including familiarity with MLflow and enterprise model/LLM lifecycle practices.
Strong understanding of the insurance value chain, ideally including underwriting, claims, actuarial/pricing, policy administration, distribution, customer service, and retention.
Ability to build business cases, define value hypotheses and KPIs, compare solution alternatives, and communicate technical and economic trade-offs to senior leaders.
Ability to balance innovation with governance, security, privacy, compliance, and model risk expectations in a regulated environment.
Exceptional communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to influence executives, business leaders, product teams, and technical practitioners.
Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Business, or a related field.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree, such as an MBA or MS, or equivalent advanced experience.
Experience with Microsoft Azure and Databricks cloud AI ecosystems.
Familiarity with MLflow and enterprise model/LLM lifecycle practices.
Strong understanding of insurance areas including underwriting, claims, actuarial/pricing, policy administration, distribution, customer service, and retention.

Responsibilities

Define Wellabe’s AI strategy, investment themes, and roadmap aligned with strategic business goals.
Partner with Business Champions and functional leaders to frame business problems, identify appropriate AI opportunities, quantify value, and prioritize initiatives.
Lead cross-functional AI Intelligence Pods from discovery and business-case development through experimentation, implementation, adoption, and value realization.
Explore data, develop prompts, test LLM and machine-learning approaches, create proof-of-concepts, evaluate outputs, and assess technical feasibility.
Use Python, notebooks, APIs, and AI/ML platforms to prototype ideas, analyze results, and communicate technical possibilities to business and engineering teams.
Partner with Data Science, Analytics, Data Engineering, Architecture, Security, and IT teams to translate prototypes into scalable, supportable solutions in the Azure and Databricks ecosystem.
Partner with AI Steering and AI Governance Committees to assess strategic alignment, value, feasibility, risk, readiness, controls, and sequencing.
Establish reusable methods for AI opportunity assessment, experimentation, evaluation, deployment readiness, adoption, and value measurement.
Guide responsible AI practices, including privacy, security, fairness, explainability, model risk, human oversight, and appropriate use of enterprise data.
Define KPIs and benefit-tracking approaches for AI initiatives, including baselines, adoption, operating impact, revenue or retention impact, and realized ROI where applicable.
Evaluate AI vendors, foundation models, platforms, and emerging technologies through structured assessments and hands-on testing.
Own the lifecycle of existing enterprise AI solutions, including monitoring, enhancement, and stakeholder support.
Monitor developments in Generative AI, agentic AI, LLMs, conversational AI, predictive modeling, and intelligent automation, and translate relevant developments into recommendations for Wellabe.
Serve as an executive-facing thought partner and practitioner-level collaborator, explaining AI trade-offs clearly to business leaders and technical teams.
Increase AI fluency and adoption across business teams and help connect AI solutions to profitable growth, operational efficiency, and better customer and agent experiences.

Benefits

401(k) with company match
Health insurance
Paid time off
Holidays
Volunteer time off
Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA)
Paternity leave
Growth opportunities
LinkedIn Learning Premium access
CliftonStrengths® assessment and coaching
On-site and virtual workshops and cohorts
Free insurance acumen courses through AHIP and LOMA
Reimbursement and bonus opportunities for professional designations and certifications
Tuition reimbursement program
Wellabe mentorship programs
Hybrid availability