Applied AI Lead

Company Description : At Instinct®, our purpose is to feed the unspoken bonds between pets, their people, and the planet. As The FreshRaw Brand , we believe nothing is fresher than raw and that raw nutrition has the power to help pets live healthier, happier lives. Guided by our leadership capabilities — acting as Change Agents, driven by Consumer Obsession, and fueled by a Challenger Mindset — we’re redefining what’s possible in pet food and challenging the status quo. From our St. Louis headquarters to our Center of Excellence Raw Food Kitchens in Lincoln, Nebraska, we’re united by a shared passion for making a meaningful difference through the power of raw.

Instinct® is part of the family-owned group, Agrolimen, who owns leading pet food and human food businesses in the US, China, Europe, and Africa.

Position Summary : The Applied AI Lead owns applied AI for Instinct. This is a hands-on builder seat within Data Hub & Analytics, responsible for delivering agents, automation, and high-ROI tools that partner Finance and the business on reporting automation, daily analytics, and selected commercial and operations use cases, always with a human owning the final call. The role requires strong technical depth, sound judgment about what AI may answer unsupervised versus what needs a human check, and the ability to explain trade-offs in plain language without hype.

Primary Job Responsibilities:

In-House AI Ownership

• Own agents, builds, and orchestration across Instinct priorities, from scoping through production handoff.
• Design, build, and maintain internal AI tools, automations, and integrations (Python scripts, APIs, LLM agents with tool use, workflow automation) that solve business challenges.
• Build tools that others can run and improve without the builder: usable by non-developer teammates and maintainable by Instinct developers.

Finance Partnership

• Serve as the primary build partner to the CFO on reporting automation, close and forecast support, and decision-ready analytics.
• Partner with FP&A and other decision owners to turn recurring manual reporting and analysis into automated, trustworthy workflows.
• Establish a working operating rhythm with Finance leadership to manage the priority queue.

Use-Case Portfolio Management

• Maintain a short, ranked list of AI use cases by dollar impact and feasibility, and be willing to stop low-value work before it consumes engineering time.
• Run fast, low-cost experiments to test emerging AI capabilities against real business challenges before committing budget or scaling.
• Scout new tools, models, and techniques and bring forward the ones with real potential ahead of demand.
• Deliver production tools the business relies on, not demos or pilots that fade after the first presentation.

Data Foundation & Quality

• Build on trusted data in partnership with Data Architecture, Master Data, and Data Control.
• Perform data-quality audits on source feeds prior to automation and flag issues back to data owners.
• Partner with IT and data teams on integrations, access, and security for AI workloads.

Governance & Safe Use

• Define safe-use guardrails with Data Hub leadership: what AI may answer unsupervised and what requires human review.
• Document what is safe to trust and make the governed path the easy path for Finance and business users.
• Monitor AI tool usage, cost, and performance, with automated reporting and KPI tracking.
• Technically review and validate work from external vendors and developers for quality, security, and fit before anything goes live.

Enablement & Adoption

• Drive adoption of AI tools through onboarding materials, working examples, and reusable playbooks and templates.
• Act as the day-to-day technical reference point for Finance and business users on approved AI tools.
• Communicate trade-offs, limitations, and results clearly to executives and non-technical audiences.

Personal Attributes:

• Builder mindset with a preference for shipping a working solution over writing a recommendation
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect AI work to financial and commercial outcomes
• Plain communicator who can explain trade-offs without hype, to all audiences
• Sound judgment on risk, data quality, and where a human should own the call
• Self-directed and comfortable owning priorities end to end in a remote environment
• Curious, with a bias toward fast experimentation and continuous improvement
• Ability to translate complex data and technology into actionable business insights
• A true collaborator who builds trust cross-functionally

Preferred Experience:

• 4-8+ years building applied AI, ML, or automation solutions in a business setting (finance, CPG, operations, or similar)
• Background in CPG, pet food, food & beverage, or a similarly complex operating environment is a plus
• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience
• Hands-on proficiency in Python (or equivalent), LLM APIs and agents (including tool use and MCP), workflow automation, and APIs; able to ship, not only advise
• Demonstrated experience partnering with Finance or similar decision owners on reporting, forecasting, or analytics automation
• Experience with SQL, data-quality auditing, and building on governed data sources
• Experience defining safe-use guardrails and human-in-the-loop controls for AI workflows
• Experience technically evaluating or overseeing the work of vendors, contractors, or consultants
• Track record of prioritizing use cases by dollar impact and feasibility and delivering them to production
• Familiarity with AI governance and data privacy practices is a plus

Travel Requirements: Remote position; occasional travel to Instinct's St. Louis headquarters or other Instinct locations as needed

Compensation and Benefits: Highly competitive compensation package includes health and dental insurance, life and AD&D insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, short and long-term disability, paid time off, Purpose Days off for company partner volunteer opportunities, and 401k with company match .