Job Description
Job Summary:
The IT Data Engineering Manager, AI Initiatives is expected to use strong business acumen, technical depth, and leadership skills to guide the Data Engineering team in designing, building, and operating the data pipelines and infrastructure that power the Firm's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) initiatives. This role partners with data scientists, AI/ML engineers, and business stakeholders to translate AI use cases into scalable data solutions, including data ingestion, feature engineering, model training and evaluation datasets, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines that support large language models (LLMs).
This role manages the Data Engineering team to identify, curate, and prepare the Firm's data assets so they are trustworthy, well-governed, and ready for use in AI applications, driving better operational efficiencies and better client outcomes through data-driven, AI-enabled insights and actions. In collaboration with data architects, data scientists, and other IT teams (such as Business Analysts, MLOps Engineers, and Project Managers), this role helps develop standard processes, procedures, and guidelines that ensure the effective and efficient delivery of sustainable AI data solutions, following design standards, responsible AI practices, and appropriate IT and user testing.
Finally, this role provides support in developing strategies, policies, and governance models to ensure data used in AI systems remains accurate, timely, secure, and relevant to the Firm's AI strategy and goals.
Job Duties:
- Ensures the Data Engineering team works effectively with data scientists, AI/ML engineers, and data architects to appropriately define and design data pipelines that support the Firm's AI initiatives
- Continually increases the maturity of data engineering practices and processes to ensure proper planning, controls, documentation, and monitoring are in place to deliver high-quality, sustainable data products for AI and analytics use cases
- Collaborates with project managers and AI/ML teams to provide effort estimates, and provides technical leadership in the design of data pipelines, feature stores, and data solutions supporting model training, fine-tuning, and inference
- Acts as a subject matter expert and catalyst to educate the organization on the Firm's data platforms and best practices as they relate to the usage, hygiene, and readiness of data for AI and generative AI applications
- Meets regularly with line of business customers and data science teams to gain a better understanding of their evolving AI use cases and data needs in order to identify potential AI-related data projects
- Works with data scientists and AI engineers to build and maintain pipelines that ingest, cleanse, transform, and structure data for machine learning models, large language models (LLMs), and generative AI solutions, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and vector database integration
- Builds and maintains constructive working relationships with project team members, vendors, and other departments involved with AI projects, systems, and IT strategies
- Ensures data governance, data quality, and responsible AI principles (including data privacy, bias mitigation, and appropriate use of client and Firm data) are followed throughout the course of day-to-day data usage and AI solution design
- Identifies and executes continuous improvement efforts regarding data and AI operations, including monitoring for data drift and pipeline reliability, to ensure the Firm's AI systems remain accurate and timely
- Works closely with the Information Security, Compliance, and Data Governance teams to ensure the Firm's AI data strategy and technologies meet or exceed both internal policies and external regulatory requirements
- Collaborates with BDO Global and other BDO member firms to ensure standards between organizations are followed in support of reusable AI/ML models, feature stores, and rapid deployment of shared AI technology
- Evaluates and recommends emerging data and AI platforms, tools, and services (such as cloud-based AI/ML services, vector databases, and orchestration frameworks) to support scalable, secure AI initiatives
- Understands and follows project management basics and project management office policies and procedures
- Other duties as required
Supervisory Responsibilities:
- Supervises Data Engineering team members supporting AI initiatives
Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Education:
- High School Diploma or GED, required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Management, Mathematics, or Statistics, preferred
Experience:
- Six (6) or more years working as a data engineer, analyst, or extract/transform/load (ETL) developer, required
- Three (3) or more years of demonstrable proficiency in successfully leading other developers or engineers in delivering complex data integration and/or AI/ML data solutions, required
- Two (2) or more years working on data pipelines, feature engineering, or data preparation directly supporting machine learning, generative AI, or large language model (LLM) initiatives, required
- Experience working with vector databases, embeddings, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures, preferred
- Experience with Python and common data/ML engineering frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Airflow, Databricks), preferred
- Experience working within a large, complex enterprise with significant regulatory and compliance requirements, preferred
- Professional service firm experience, preferred
License/Certifications:
Software:
- Strong proficiency in the use of the Microsoft Office suite, specifically Excel, required
- Three (3) or more years working with PowerBI, Tableau, or similar data visualization products, required
- Demonstrable proficiency in developing and understanding custom and ad-hoc SQL queries, required
- Three (3) or more years working within commercial cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, including their AI/ML services (e.g., Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock, AWS SageMaker), preferred
- Familiarity with AI/ML platforms and tooling (e.g., Databricks, Fabric Notebooks, Snowflake Cortex, Azure AI Foundry, AWS SageMaker, or similar), preferred
Language:
Other Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Strong ability to mentor and coach data engineers in their development and support activities, including growing their skills in AI/ML-oriented data engineering
- Ability to effectively negotiate work request priorities with business requesters and data science teams while maintaining good working relationships
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills
- Working knowledge of responsible AI concepts such as data privacy, bias, and appropriate handling of sensitive or client data used in AI systems
- Excellent written communication skills, maintaining accurate documentation and technical authorship of complex documents
- Ability to facilitate meetings efficiently and effectively
- Ability to follow an issue through to its logical conclusion, and escalate as necessary
- Ability to work independently as well as part of a team, including providing technical leadership to less experienced colleagues
- Excellent interpersonal and customer relationship skills
- Ability to work in a deadline-driven environment, while handling multiple complex projects/tasks simultaneously with a focus on details
- Ability to work well under pressure while dealing with unexpected issues in a professional manner
- Ability to work after hours and weekends as needed
- Ability to travel as needed
Individual salaries that are offered to a candidate are determined after consideration of numerous factors including but not limited to the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and geography.
National Range: $150,000 - $175,000
Maryland Range: $150,000 - $175,000
NYC/Long Island/Westchester Range: $150,000 - $175,000
At BDO, how we show up matters. We build strong relationships by supporting one another, our clients, and our communities with care, curiosity, and a commitment to helping one another grow and succeed. Here, you’ll find meaningful work, leaders invested in your success, and opportunities to build a career around what matters most to you.
Our purpose is to be the people our clients count on to grow with confidence and achieve what matters most. Our values guide how we bring that purpose to life each day. Together, they shape how we work with one another, serve our clients, and create meaningful impact.
BDO provides assurance, tax, and advisory services to clients across the U.S. and around the world. No matter your role, you’ll be part of a team helping clients navigate complexity and move forward with clarity.
We are proud to be an ESOP company, offering participants a stake in the firm’s success through beneficial ownership and a unique opportunity to enhance their financial well-being. As a qualified retirement plan, the ESOP is a meaningful addition to our comprehensive compensation and Total Rewards benefits* offerings. It also reinforces an ownership mindset that strengthens our connection to one another, our clients, and the future we’re building together.
Learn more about our benefits: BDO Total Rewards encompass more than traditional benefits. Click here to find out more!
*Benefits may be subject to eligibility requirements.
Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/vets
Click here to find out more!
