Perdue Foods has a goal of becoming the most trusted name in premium proteins by creating products for consumers and for retail and foodservice customers around the globe while changing the way animals are raised for food. It is part of Perdue Farms, a fourth-generation, family-owned food and agricultural business deeply rooted in tradition yet with a forward-thinking mindset. We believe that success starts with our people, and our culture is built on a foundation of teamwork, integrity, and respect, where every voice matters and everyone is encouraged to contribute to our shared goals. We are dedicated to creating a supportive, inclusive environment where associates feel valued and inspired to make an impact, both within the company and in the communities we serve. From promoting growth and development to prioritizing work-life balance, we're committed to helping our team members thrive. **That's Perdue.**
**Summary**
The AI Transformatin Lead is a visionary leader responsible for enabling differentiated, high-impact applications of artificial intelligence across the business. This role partners closely with business leadership to identify innovative opportunities where AI can be a strategic differentiator, fueling competitive advantage and driving measurable outcomes. Beyond leading the development and deployment of AI solutions, this role plays a critical part in shaping how AI can transform decision-making, operations, and customer experiences. The leader will also champions responsible AI practices, ensuring governance, risk mitigation, and ethical use of AI are embedded in every initiative. With a focus on business value, quality, and foresight, this role drives cross-functional collaboration to turn AI potential into sustainable impact.
The salary range for this position is $190,000 - $248,000 per year, based on experience and qualifications with annual bonus available (variable depending on performance).
In addition to the base salary, Perdue offers a competitive benefits package, including medical/Rx, 401(k) with employer match after 1-year, critical illness, accident insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, optional group life insurance, short-term and long-term disability protection, flexible spending accounts and paid time off.
This is an onsite role at our Salisbury, MD Corporate Offices.
**Principal and Essential Duties & Responsibilities**
+ Partners with business leadership to accelerate AI opportunities through re-imagining how work is performed, embracing new and modern optimization techniques and changing the pace by which business value is realized.
+ Translates complex AI capabilities into compelling business narratives to drive informed strategic decisions and foster confidence in AI-driven innovation.
+ Provides strategic direction of product delivery to ensure scope, timeline and budget are prioritized and in compliance with related regulations and policies.
+ Leads efforts to establish and improve artificial intelligence and data science design & development practices.
+ Champion a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the organization and partners with key team members to drive artificial intelligence literacy and adoption.
+ Develops and sponsors a community of practice of data scientists to drive reuse, awareness and alignment to further adoption and value through analytics solutions
+ Partner with Business Leadership to delivering measurable business outcomes from artificial intelligence investments, with responsibility for handling a significant budget and achieving defined value impact targets.
+ Builds strategic partnerships and alliances with key business and industry entities to achieve organizational objectives and improve the value of investments.
+ Manages team members to achieve organization goals, provides technical coaching & guidance, drives accountability for high performance and develops and sustains an environment for data scientists to thrive in an inclusive culture.
+ Other duties as assigned
**Minimum Education**
+ Bachelor's degree in data science, computer science, math, engineering or related field or equivalent experience
**Experience Requirements**
+ 5+ years of experience leading teams
+ 10+ years of related work experience
+ Ability to present to non-technical audiences
**Experience Preferred**
+ Master's degree or PhD in data science, computer science, math, engineering or related field
+ Experience driving analytics adoption and mobilizing business transformation through AI adoption
+ Broad expertise of business processes and functions
+ Proficient in communicating to senior executives on opportunity and value, relating to the audience at hand
+ Experience working with continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines
+ Experience working with distributed computing frameworks
+ Experience working with AZURE
+ Experience in software development environment and code management or versioning
+ Experience in agriculture
**Environmental Factors and Physical Requirements**
+ Position is mostly sedentary but may require occasional moving to other offices or buildings.
+ May need to move light equipment or supplies from one place to another.
+ May need to access files, supplies, and equipment.
+ Work activity is in an office, open-partitioned, cubicle environment.
_Perdue Farms Inc. is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status._