Director, Data Science

About the company

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. With more than 6,400 employees and associates in partner dental practices, Sun Life operates nationwide. The company is driven by its Purpose: helping Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Values of caring, authenticity, boldness, inspiration, and impact shape the work environment.

About the role

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 position reports to the AVP, Business Analytics within the Health and Risk Solutions business.

The Director 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. The role includes building and developing a team of data scientists, fostering innovation, establishing analytical best practices, and ensuring solutions deliver measurable business value while maintaining appropriate governance, quality, and trust.

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. The role also evaluates 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.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Requirements

• 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• 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.
• Experience developing or leading GenAI-enabled information retrieval, summarization, document intelligence, or workflow automation solutions.
• Experience applying AI agents, workflow orchestration, or decision-support automation to business processes with appropriate controls, oversight, and measurable outcomes.
• Experience partnering with Sales, Underwriting, Clinical, or related business teams to embed analytics into operational workflows.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $153,000 - $229,500. The actual base salary will be determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, education, and geographic location. This position is also eligible for a discretionary annual incentive award based on individual performance and overall business performance.

Benefits

• 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, and disability programs.
• Partially paid sabbatical program.
• 401(k) employer match and stock purchase options.
• Employer-funded retirement account.
• Flexible, inclusive, and collaborative work environment supporting career growth.