Director Forward Deployed Resercher

**Description** **Director, AI Forward\-Deployed Researcher** **Location: Remote (USA)** **About TELUS Digital** TELUS Digital is a leading digital customer experience innovator that designs, builds, and delivers next\-generation solutions, including the Fuel iX generative AI platform—an enterprise\-scale platform proven with over 50,000 users that enables organisations to safely manage their AI applications, foundation models, and data sources. **Role Purpose** ---------------- The Forward Deployed Researcher, Director is a strategic leader, advanced AI research specialist, and manager who directly oversees and engages in the highest\-value customer implementations. This role is responsible for driving frontier AI research into production, setting the strategic technical direction for enterprise clients, and managing a team of Forward Deployed Researchers and Engineers. This role operates at the critical intersection of cutting\-edge research, software engineering, executive\-level strategic consulting, and team management. As a Forward Deployed Researcher, Director, you will embed directly within Fortune 500 and highly regulated customer organizations to advance frontier AI implementations, shape AI strategy, deliver bespoke production systems, and build world\-class technical teams. Unlike traditional research leaders who remain in labs or remote environments, you will be embedded within customer teams—walking the halls of banks, healthcare organizations, and tech companies—to understand their unique challenges, conduct applied research, and lead the delivery of transformative AI solutions grounded in both frontier techniques and practical enterprise constraints. **Key Responsibilities** ------------------------ ### **1\. Strategic AI Research \& Executive Consulting (Primary)** * Act as a trusted technical and research advisor to customer executive leadership (CTOs, Heads of AI, VPs of Engineering, Board Members) on overall AI strategy, roadmap, a