Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Risepoint is an education technology company that provides world-class support and trusted expertise to more than 100 universities and colleges. In this role, you will lead AI/ML initiatives that shape student engagement and retention by developing predictive models and driving cross-functional collaborations to enhance student outcomes.
Responsibilities
- Lead AI/ML initiatives end-to-end—scoping, designing, managing implementation, and driving outcomes—coordinating across Product, Engineering, CX, and university partner teams
- Own accountability for delivering measurable business outcomes from each initiative: retention lift, engagement improvement, enrollment conversion, and pipeline efficiency
- Drive alignment and decision-making across teams at each stage of an initiative’s lifecycle, from defining success metrics through post-deployment iteration
- Identify and scope net-new AI/ML opportunities that deliver impact for students, university partners, and Risepoint’s business, and advocate for prioritization with leadership
- Manage relationships with key vendors and software providers as a workstream leader, ensuring delivery commitments are met
- Build and deploy predictive models—including churn risk, engagement propensity, and success likelihood—that power proactive student outreach and are monitored continuously in production
- Lead the design and implementation of 'next best action' logic in close partnership with Product and CX, from logic design through production deployment
- Prototype, test, and productionize models using MLOps frameworks (Databricks, MLFlow, dbt, Dagster), owning the full model lifecycle
- Partner with data engineers to ensure clean, reliable pipelines and feature stores that support model development and production deployment at scale
- Work with speech analytics and structured CRM/LMS data to derive behavioral insights across the student lifecycle
- Design and lead A/B testing programs to measure model-driven impact on retention, engagement, and satisfaction, owning the decision to ship, iterate, or stop
- Establish feedback loops and real-world performance monitoring frameworks that enable continuous model improvement
- Translate complex technical findings into clear, executive-ready narratives that drive cross-functional alignment and action
- Mentor teammates and raise the team’s technical bar through code reviews, pair work, and knowledge-sharing
- Model ownership, adaptability, and initiative leadership in a fast-changing environment; set the standard for what it means to own a workstream end-to-end
Skills
- A proven track record of delivering measurable consumer and business impact through AI/ML initiatives—scoping, managing implementation, and owning outcomes end-to-end
- Experience as a workstream leader: designing, managing, and delivering AI/ML projects in a cross-functional environment
- 5–8+ years in applied machine learning or data science, ideally in education, consumer tech, personalization, or a complex behavioral domain
- Strong background in predictive analytics, recommendation systems, and experimentation (A/B testing, causal inference, uplift modeling)
- Deep expertise in Python and SQL; proficiency with ML libraries (scikit-learn, XGBoost, TensorFlow, or PyTorch)
- Experience with Databricks, MLFlow, dbt, and Dagster—or demonstrated ability to ramp quickly on a modern MLOps stack
- Comfort working with complex, multi-source datasets (CRM, LMS, communication logs, speech analytics)
- Excellent communicator across technical and non-technical audiences, including executives; you make the science accessible without losing rigor
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in a technical discipline (computer science, statistics, econometrics, mathematics, or engineering)
- PhD in a technical discipline (not required, but valued)
- Experience in higher education, edtech, or student success platforms
- Familiarity with human-in-the-loop AI systems and responsible ML practices (bias mitigation, model transparency, fairness metrics)
- Prior work building or operationalizing next best action or propensity-to-engage models at scale
Company Overview
Risepoint partners with universities to create online degree programs and offers recruitment marketing and admissions services. It was founded in 2007, and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, USA, with a workforce of 1001-5000 employees. Its website is https://risepoint.com.Company H1B Sponsorship
Risepoint has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 1 in 2025, 3 in 2024. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role.