Principal Data Scientist

Location: Remote - candidate must be within commuting distance of Teksouth's Gardendale, AL headquarters for regular on-site engagements.

Clearance Requirement: Must be able to obtain and maintain at least a Secret security clearance. Top-Secret clearance eligibility will be required as the company transitions to higher-level classified programs.

Teksouth is a recognized leader in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics solutions for the federal government. With a reputation for excellence and innovation, Teksouth is a trusted partner across the defense sector, dedicated to being the indispensable architect of intelligent enterprise. We are committed to fundamentally transforming how organizations operate, make decisions, and innovate across every critical function, moving beyond traditional data reporting to deliver strategic, predictive, and actionable insights.

Position Overview – Teksouth is seeking a Principal Data Scientist for a strategic and foundational “hands-on” role at the forefront of our innovation agenda, responsible for establishing and leading our Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Generative AI (GenAI) practice. The successful candidate will drive the maturation of our core data analytics offerings by identifying, validating, and scaling new, revenue-generating opportunities across our defense, federal, and commercial client base.

You will serve as the primary thought leader, architect, and mentor for advanced data solutions.

A. Strategy, Vision, and Client Engagement

• Opportunity Identification: Proactively identify, prioritize, and scope high-impact GenAI/ML applications (e.g., text generation, code synthesis, predictive maintenance, anomaly detection) specifically relevant to client business requirements and pain points.
• Roadmap Development: Develop and maintain a clear, pragmatic AI/ML technology roadmap that aligns with the company's annual revenue targets and long-term strategic growth goals.
• External Representation: Act as the internal and external Subject Matter Expert (SME), representing the company at executive client briefings, proposal development meetings, and industry conferences (e.g., Fed Talks, DoD forums) to evangelize GenAI's value proposition
  , including efficiency gains and risk mitigation.
• Proposal Leadership: Translate complex technical concepts into clear, concise, and compelling business cases for executive leadership, contributing to or leading the technical sections of proposals (RFPs, RFIs) that outline AI/ML solutions.

B. Solution Architecture and Deployment

• Holistic Solution Architecture: Design and architect holistic GenAI/ML solutions, including selecting and customizing appropriate models (LLMs, transformers, etc.) and defining scalable integration strategies for embedding AI into existing enterprise client systems (ERP, CRM).
• MLOps and Stack Standardization: Define and standardize the required technology stack, tools, and best practices for MLOps (Machine Learning Operations), ensuring models are scalable, reliable, and compliant.
• Pilot Program Leadership: Develop and lead end-to-end development of initial proof-of-concept (POC) and pilot models
  , driving thorough validation, testing, and iteration to ensure quality, and managing the solution rollout, including cloud setup (Azure, AWS, GCP) and production deployment.
• Development & Customization: Develop and lead model fine-tuning and prompt engineering for client-specific needs, overseeing the development of GenAI-powered applications and user-friendly interfaces.

C. Governance, Mentorship, and Compliance

• Responsible AI: Lead efforts in responsible AI
  , establishing rigorous standards for documentation, monitoring, and auditing processes to ensure safeguards against bias, privacy breaches, and ethical outcomes.
• Best Practice Governance: Establish standards for version control and manage model retraining and auditing processes, ensuring alignment with ethical and regulatory compliance.
• Data Strategy: Define and govern reliable, ethical, and compliant data sourcing and management, ensuring data ingestion and structuring processes are optimized for advanced…