Director Data Science

Guided by our purpose, core values, and leadership principles, we are creating an airline people love. Our corporate teams set the strategies and operational plans to ensure the success of our company. Whether we use our expertise in accounting, human resources, finance, planning, legal, marketing, or any of our operational divisions, our shared passion for travel and our guests is what motivates us to achieve excellence each day. If you share our passion for creating an airline people love, we want to hear from you.

The Director, Data Science is responsible for and sets the long-term and enterprise-wide data science strategy and execution at Alaska Airlines, including the development of AI / ML and Generative AI capabilities. As a people and strategic leader, this role leads and establishes strategic goals and priorities for a cross-divisional team of Data Scientists, Data Engineers, and Machine Learning Engineers who drive business value by developing and integrating AI products into both business functions and enterprise applications.

• Leads team and establishes priorities to execute on strategy using AI / ML and other advanced analytical techniques to deliver substantial business value.
• Shapes the long-term (12+ months) enterprise-wide data science strategy and planning by creating a roadmap in how we will implement production-grade AI / ML and other data science solutions across Alaska Airlines.
• Actively engages senior leaders to identify opportunities to leverage AI / ML, Generative AI, and other data science capabilities in their organizations and develop OKR’s to drive development and execution of those capabilities.
• Closely partners with Product Management teams within internal teams and cross-functionally across ITS and Ecommerce to align on development and deployment of AI/ML modeling into application roadmaps supported through those teams
• Develops people through effective performance management and ongoing feedback, focusing on delegation for stretch assignments, growing and developing the team for capacity and growth, looking at performance across the team and time management.
• Oversees advanced research and analytic projects and presents findings and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Key voice in Data Strategy Council to help identify and implement broad technical solutions and processes to drive analytic capabilities and business value.
• Incorporates AGILE and software development methods with ITS and Ecommerce business units to deploy production-level data science solutions through API integrations.
• Manages cloud usage requirements, service-level agreements, data quality alerting and computing costs for MLOps tools and workflows within Azure subscription.
• Shape culture of team through action, presence and reinforcement of behaviors.

Required

• 8 years of experience in data science, business intelligence, or related analytics.
• 5 years of leadership experience, with at least 2 of those years directly leading people
• Bachelor’s degree with a focus in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or related fields, or an additional two years of training/experience in lieu of this degree.
• Demonstrated experience working with large, complex data sets and disparate data sources across various platforms.
• Experience in leading cross-functional teams to deliver end to end data science solutions in production
• Practitioner in multiple AI / ML methodologies(supervised, unsupervised, deep learning, generative AI, etc) and architectures(real-time, batch, serverless, containerization, etc)
• Strong proficiency in SQL, NoSQL and distributed data sources.
• Experience with statistics/machine learning packages such as Spark MLlib, Python (scikit-learn, pandas, numpy, scipy, Matplotlib), Keras, TensorFlow, PyTorch etc
• Practical experience in developing and deploying solutions in a Cloud environment and distributed computing platforms (Azure, GCP, S3, Spark, Iceberg, etc.)
• Proven proficiency in visualization techniques, dashboard design, decision support tools, and automation, with experience using data visualization tools.
• Proven proficiency in Python, Spark, and other programming languages.
• Excellent communication skills, including experience presenting to executive level leadership and communicating complex ideas in an understandable manner to management.
• Experience with operations research techniques (Monte Carlo, Markov Chain, queuing theory, etc.)
• Experience with version control software and tools (Git, GitHub, Azure DevOps)
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Minimum age of 18.
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, engineering, information systems or another quantitative field.
• Proficiency working with Azure cloud environment
• Proficiency in Databricks
• Experience in commercial aviation or another transportation or logistics function
• Proficiency with MLFlow or requirement deployment frameworks for deployment of MLOps

Embody our values to own safety, do the right thing, be caring and kind, and deliver performance.

The pay range and total target compensation package listed above is the expected pay offered for this position at the start of employment. Your pay will be based on multiple factors, including and not limited to location, your relevant experience/level, experience level, and skillset while balancing internal equity relative to other Alaska/Horizon employees. Alaska/Horizon is committed to fair, unbiased compensation along with competitive benefits in all locations in which we operate.

Note: We don't typically hire at the top of the range. 

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air pay and benefits can vary by company, location, number of regularly scheduled hours worked, length of employment, and employment status.

• Free stand-by travel privileges on Alaska Airlines & Horizon Air with high priority status 
• Select number of confirmed travel credits provided annually 
• Comprehensive well-being programs including medical, dental and vision benefits
• Generous 401k match program
• Quarterly and annual bonus plans
• Generous holiday and paid time off 

For more information about Alaska/Horizon Total Rewards please visit our career site and view benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement  

It is the policy of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment and to ensure equal opportunity in all terms, conditions, and benefits of employment or potential employment.   

We also prohibit discrimination and harassment against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information and other legally protected categories.  

We have established an EEO Compliance Program under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 503”) and the Vietnam Era Veteran’s Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (“VEVRAA”).  All applicants and employees are treated without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. In addition, we have established an audit and reporting system to allow for effective measurement of its equal employment opportunity activities.   

To implement this policy, we will: 

(1) Recruit, hire, train and promote qualified persons in all job titles, without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information and any other legally protected categories; 
(2) Ensure that employment decisions are based only on valid job requirements; and 
(3) Ensure that all personnel actions and employment activities such as compensation, benefits, promotions, layoffs, return from layoff, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air sponsored programs, and tuition assistance will be administered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information and other legally protected categories. 

Employees and applicants for employment will not be subjected to harassment, intimidation, threats, coercion or discrimination because they have engaged or may engage in (1) filing a complaint, (2) opposing any act or practice made unlawful by, or exercising any other right protected by, any Federal, State or local law requiring equal opportunity, including Section 503 and the equal opportunity provisions of VEVRAA, or (3) assisting or participating in any investigation, compliance evaluation, hearing, or any other activity related to the administration of any Federal, State or local law requiring equal opportunity, including Section 503 and the equal opportunity provisions  of VEVRAA. 

Government Contractor & Department of Transportation (DOT) Regulations 
Alaska Airlines & Horizon Air are regulated by the Department of Transportation (DOT – regulations, 49 CFR part 40) and all applicants are advised that post-offer and/or pre-employment drug testing will be conducted to determine the presence of marijuana, cocaine, opioids, phencyclidine (PCP) and amphetamines or a metabolite of these drugs prior to any offer or employment or transfer into a safety-sensitive position. Failure to submit to testing or positive indications of drug use will render the applicant ineligible for employment with Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air and any employment offer will be withdrawn.