Job Specifications
About Messagepoint
Messagepoint is a privately-owned software company providing an AI-powered SaaS solution that enables enterprises to manage and personalize customer communications with greater speed, accuracy, and control. Our award-winning platform empowers business users to create and optimize compliant, personalized communications across digital and print channels using advanced content intelligence and large language models.
Messagepoint is headquartered in Toronto with employees located throughout Canada, the United States and the UK.
About the Role
We're hiring a Vice President, AI & Data Science to lead our award-winning MARCIE AI Platform and guide a diverse team of data scientists, AI/ML engineers, MLOps specialists, and platform developers. You will shape the future of generative AI for enterprise customer communications—work that directly impacts millions of communications daily across healthcare, financial services, insurance, and e-commerce. This role combines strategic vision, technical excellence, and research leadership, reporting to our Executive Vice President, R&D.
MARCIE has earned three consecutive AI Excellence Awards (2023-2025) and is the industry's first generative AI solution for Customer Communications Management (CCM). You'll drive platform innovation, research partnerships with leading universities, and position Messagepoint as the technical leader in enterprise AI applications.
What You'll Do
Define AI strategy and roadmap: Set multi-year vision for MARCIE platform evolution aligned with business objectives; guide technology stack decisions (OpenAI, Gemini, AWS Bedrock) and vendor partnerships worth $1M+ annually
Lead platform architecture: Oversee multi-cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure) and MLOps implementation ensuring production reliability, scalability, and cost efficiency across enterprise deployments
Drive research excellence: Manage university partnerships and academic collaborations, secure R&D grants and tax credit programs, and guide patent development and publication programs
Build and mentor team: Lead cross-functional AI division spanning data scientists, AI/ML engineers, MLOps specialists, QA professionals, and platform developers; recruit top talent, establish career development frameworks, and foster collaborative, high-performance culture
Ensure production impact: Translate AI capabilities into measurable customer value (10x productivity gains, sub-second response times, improved translation accuracy); support go-to-market and customer success initiatives
Position industry leadership: Represent Messagepoint through conference speaking, technical publications, media engagement, and strategic thought leadership in enterprise AI space
Collaborate with executives: Provide technical guidance to CEO and board on AI capabilities, competitive positioning, and emerging technology trends
AI Steering Committee Leadership: In this portion of the role, the VP, AI & Data Science will report directly to the CEO and lead Messagepoint’s AI Steering Committee, providing overall leadership and strategic direction.
What You Bring (Must-Haves)
10+ years in AI/ML with proven track record deploying production LLM-powered systems to enterprise customers at scale
5+ years leading teams: Demonstrated success building and scaling AI research/engineering organizations with direct reports, budget authority, and strategic planning responsibility
Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, AI/ML, Data Science, or related field with strong foundation in deep learning, NLP, and transformer architectures
Hands-on technical contributor: Active coder and solution architect who develops production generative AI applications, builds RAG pipelines, implements multi-agent orchestration systems, and writes code alongside your team; this is not a purely managerial role
Multi-cloud expertise: Deep understanding of AWS, GCP, or Azure infrastructure; experience with MLOps, vector databases, RAG pipelines, and API-first design
Executive communication: Proven ability to influence C-suite and board-level strategy through clear, compelling technical storytelling
Research or academic collaboration: Experience managing university partnerships, grant programs, publications, or patent development
Nice to Have
Publications in top AI conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ACL, EMNLP) or journals
Experience with government R&D grant programs and tax credits
Domain expertise in Customer Communications Management (CCM), document processing, or regulated industries (healthcare, financial services, insurance)
Conference speaking experience and established presence in AI research or practitioner communities
Track record of 10x+ productivity improvements through AI implementations
How We Work
Remote-first: Work primarily from anywhere in Canada with flexible hours, while maintaining occasional in-office presence for collaboration, team building, and strategic planning
Collaboration tools: