AI Platform Manager

Work Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:00 A.M. – 4:30 P.M. (EST)
*Hours may vary due to work assignments, or projects.*

Department:  Technology Services
Work Location: City Hall Annex

FLSA Status: This is an Exempt position.
Salary: GS. 12 $64,024 - $77,348
 

CLASSIFICATION SUMMARY:  
Incumbents in this position will lead the lifecycle management, operational support, and ethical deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) across various city departments. This position will be responsible for overseeing the successful integration of AI solutions into existing enterprise systems and developing new AI-powered capabilities to enhance citizen services, optimize city operations, and support data-driven decision-making. The Manager AI Application Systems will collaborate extensively with business stakeholders, data analysts, and IT infrastructure teams, ensuring that AI applications are reliable, secure, compliant with ethical guidelines and privacy regulations, and deliver tangible value to the citizens and employees of Chattanooga.

SERIES LEVEL:
The AI Platform Manager is a stand-alone position.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
(The following duties ARE NOT intended to serve as a comprehensive list of all duties performed by all employees in this classification, only a representative summary of the primary duties and responsibilities. Incumbent(s) may not be required to perform all duties listed and may be required to perform additional, position-specific duties.)

Supports the Director in defining and articulating a strategic vision for the application of AI within Chattanooga's municipal operations, identifying opportunities to leverage AI for improved public services, efficiency, and data-driven decision-making. Develops and maintains a prioritized roadmap for AI application deployment across city departments.

Leads the design, development, integration, and deployment of AI-powered applications tailored to municipal needs, such as enhancing the smart traffic management system, optimizing waste management, or developing advanced citizen service chatbots. Oversees the technical architecture of AI solutions, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security, utilizing Google Cloud and its AI capabilities (e.g., Gemini, Vertex AI).

Acts as the primary liaison between technical AI teams and non-technical city departments. Translates complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for city leadership and staff. Facilitates requirements gathering, manages expectations, and drives alignment across diverse municipal stakeholders to ensure AI solutions address real-world city challenges.

Collaborates with DTS divisions to ensure the availability, quality, and ethical sourcing of data for AI models. Works with colleagues and partners to establish data management practices (labeling, cleaning, and ongoing validation) to prevent bias and ensure the accuracy and fairness of AI outputs, particularly for citizen-facing applications.

Leads the integration of ethical AI principles (transparency, fairness, accountability, privacy) into the entire AI application lifecycle. Ensures all AI deployments comply with relevant state and federal data privacy laws and emerging AI regulations, including City AI Policies. Helps oversee privacy impact assessments and establish clear human oversight mechanisms for AI-driven decisions that affect citizens.

Establishes key metrics for measuring the impact and effectiveness of deployed AI applications.

Continuously monitors AI model performance, identifies areas for improvement, and leads iterative improvement cycles to refine solutions based on performance data and user feedback.

Works with the Director to evaluate and manage third-party AI vendors and technologies, ensuring their solutions align with Chattanooga's strategic goals, security standards, and ethical guidelines. This includes conducting thorough due diligence and requiring transparent explanations of algorithms.

Oversees the full lifecycle of Google AI applications, ensuring robustness, scalability, and expected performance. Establishes and manages processes for continuous monitoring, performance tuning, and troubleshooting of Google AI models and applications, implementing proactive measures for high availability.

Leads the integration of Google AI models and applications with city enterprise systems and oversees their technical deployment. Identifies and mitigates risks associated with AI deployment (technical, ethical, bias, operational).

Develops and helps enforce ethical AI guidelines (fairness, transparency, accountability, privacy) and ensures compliance with relevant data privacy and AI regulations. Collaborates with the data team on data quality, accessibility, and governance for AI model training and inference.

Ensures MLOps best practices are implemented (version control, aut