Director of Data and AI
US$150,000 – US$180,000 / yr base salary
Posted 18 Sep 2026
Advertised as “Director of Data & AI”
BranchFactor Summary
The original posting with the fluff stripped out
- Expected experience
- 7+ yrs
- Management level
- People management
- Employment
- Hybrid
- Contract
- Full-time
| Base salary | US$150,000 – US$180,000 / yr |
|---|
About Think of Us
Think of Us (TOU) is transforming the child welfare system into one where young people and families can heal, develop, and thrive. We drive purpose-driven work aligned with meaningful systems change, powered by data and the insights of lived experience. Our focus is on prevention, keeping families strong before crisis, and on building kinship-first systems so children grow up with people they know and trust. Through bold collaborations with leaders and innovators across the public and private sectors — from Presidential Administrations to local providers — we identify leverage points and co-create solutions that re-architect child welfare for the future.
Here’s what this looks like:
- Built the Lived Experience Engine into the largest dataset of its kind (51,000+ voices), powering AI tools and shaping reforms
- Partnered with California to launch the Kinship Accelerator in 8 counties, backed by $150M and a budget increase from $317M → $896M
- Drove a national kin-first shift: 39 states (plus 5 tribes) adopting kinship standards, unlocking $3B for families
- Operate one of the largest direct resource networks, connecting 1,827 families to $28M+ in support
Our team members share a commitment to driving systems change through creative problem-solving, obsessive curiosity, and a love of quickly driving innovative, measurable, and impactful results.
Position Overview
Department: Technology & Innovation
Reports to: Executive Leadership
Direct Reports: Data Engineer, Senior Applied Data Scientist
Stack: Python, SQL, Databricks (bronze/silver/gold). AI pipeline on Anthropic Claude +
OpenAI, with LangFuse for observability and evaluation.
Location: Hybrid; Washington, DC (min. 3 days in the office)
Category: Full Time/Exempt
As the senior leader for data at Think of Us, you'll be a working player-coach: contributing hands-on alongside the existing data team for the first 6–12 months before growing it further. You're not a pure strategist or a pure manager: you've built a data function before and know how to do the work while building the systems around it.
Data is one of TOU's most powerful strategic assets, and none is more central to our mission than the largest dataset of its kind: perspectives from over 51,000 individuals impacted by the child welfare system. As TOU integrates AI across its operations, expands geographically, and deepens its policy and programmatic impact, we need a leader who can turn this proprietary dataset into a durable technical advantage. You'll lead TOU's data function end to end: strategy and architecture, AI and evaluation, analysis and insight, and governance. You'll directly manage the team that delivers this work, today a data engineer and applied data scientist, and grow it over time.