Lead Data Scientist, AI Enablement (Remote)

About The Team

Symetra's AI Enablement team is a fast-growing team of builders inside our Data Analytics organization. Our goal is to accelerate AI adoption across the company in two ways: by building shared platforms, tooling, and patterns that let other teams effectively integrate AI into their workflows, and by shipping AI-powered applications for the most important use cases. We work in small, cross-functional teams, build with the people who use what we make, and move fast. Our first product in production, docstream, is an AI-powered document-processing platform that currently supports several of Symetra's back-end operational processes. We plan to continue to iterate on docstream and to build out other products using the same modular architecture, integrating third-party products where it makes sense.

About The Role

As a Lead Data Scientist, you'll own the AI and machine learning behind our products: framing the problems, choosing the approaches, and building and evaluating the models (classic ML and LLM-based) that make our products work. You'll set the standard for how we do data science on the team, mentor other data scientists, and partner closely with the engineers and stakeholders building alongside you.

What You Will Do

• Frame business and product questions, and define how we'll measure success.
• Build and evaluate models that power our AI products, from classic ML to LLM-based systems (RAG, agents).
• Own projects end to end, and recommend where to focus next.
• Set the standard for evaluations, guardrails, and prompting across our LLM systems, and champion data science best practices.
• Mentor data scientists and partner closely with the engineers building our products.

Who You Are

An experienced data scientist (typically 8+ years) who has owned modeling work end to end. Deep expertise in statistics, machine learning, and model development. Strong with modern AI: LLMs, RAG, agents, prompt engineering, evaluation, and guardrails. Python and SQL, and a track record of getting models into production. Use AI coding agents effectively in your day-to-day work, with the judgment to know when to use them and when not to.

• Nice to Haves:
  • Building and scaling LLM-powered systems in production.
  • Document understanding, NLP, or other unstructured-data experience.
  • A track record of mentoring data scientists and leading technical direction.

Why Work at Symetra

Here’s what some of our employees have to say about why they work at Symetra:

• Vernell K. – Auditor: "Symetra is a great place if you are looking for the opportunity to contribute, to grow, to be seen and valued."
• Stephanie F. – VP Customer Service & Operations: "We're big enough to make an impact on the country, but small enough to care and know who you are and what you're contributing to the organization. All new ideas are welcome!"

What We Offer You

• Benefits and Perks
• Flexible full-time or hybrid telecommuting arrangements
• Paid time away including vacation and sick time, flex days and ten paid holidays
• Give back to your community and double your impact through our company matching

Compensation

Salary Range: $128,700 - $214,600 plus eligibility for annual bonus program

Minimum Requirements

• Minimum Internet Speed: 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, in alignment with the FCC's definition of "broadband."
• Internet Type: Fiber, Cable (e.g., Comcast, Spectrum), or DSL.
• Not Permissible: Satellite (e.g., Starlink), cellular broadband (hotspot or otherwise), any other wireless technology, or wired dial-up.

Identity Verification

We empower inclusion at Symetra. We’re building a place where every employee feels valued, respected, and has opportunities to contribute. Inclusion is about recognizing our assumptions, considering multiple perspective, and removing barriers. We accept and celebrate diverse experiences, identities, and perspectives, because lifting each other up fuels thought and builds a stronger, more innovative company.

Creating a world where more people have access to financial freedom

Symetra is a national financial services company dedicated to helping people achieve their financial goals and feel confident about the future. In our daily work, we’re guided by the principles of Value, Transparency and Sustainability. This means we provide products and services people need at a competitive price, we communicate clearly and openly so people understand what they’re buying, and we design products—and operate our company—to stand the test of time. We’re committed to showing up for our communities, lifting up our employees, and standing up for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).