Lead Metadata & Data Products Specialist - Washington DC, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Chica

Your success is a train ride away!

As we move America’s workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees.

Are you ready to join our team?

Our values of ‘Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First’ are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, ‘Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security’ are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future.

Job Summary
The Lead Data & AI Specialist leads the design, refinement, and operationalization of Amtrak’s data and analytical assets that ensure accuracy, trust, and insight across the enterprise. This role combines deep technical expertise with strong cross-functional leadership to guide how data, models, and governance frameworks are applied and scaled.

Leads at this level coordinate across data, analytics, and governance functions to establish patterns, improve consistency, and ensure that Amtrak’s information assets and AI logic are explainable, compliant, and business-aligned. They mentor other specialists, drive adoption of enterprise data and insight frameworks, and help shape the standards that enable trusted intelligence at scale.

Essential Functions
• Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of complex data and analytical assets—including datasets, models, metrics, and governance frameworks—that support enterprise decision-making.
• Coordinate multi-team initiatives that apply data and insight frameworks to improve data quality, explainability, and value realization across domains.
• Develop and refine repeatable standards and patterns for modeling, validation, documentation, and governance to ensure consistency and reliability.
• Evaluate enterprise data and analytical processes, identify cross-cutting issues, and recommend enhancements that increase efficiency and trust.
• Mentor and guide other specialists, fostering technical growth, collaboration, and alignment to established practices.
• Partner with product, engineering, and governance leaders to align delivery of analytical and governance assets with business strategy and compliance objectives.
• Represent the Data & AI Specialist discipline in enterprise working groups or cross-functional design sessions, ensuring quality and consistency of data and AI outputs.

Additional Responsibilities
• Other duties as required or assigned

Supervisory Responsibility
Does the job supervise?:    
No

Minimum Qualifications
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Experience: 6+ years of progressive experience in data, analytics, AI, or governance disciplines with demonstrated leadership in framework development or cross-domain coordination.
• Licenses/Certifications: None required.

Preferred Qualifications
• Experience establishing or refining data and insight standards, templates, or accelerators for enterprise use.
• Familiarity with responsible AI, data ethics, or regulatory compliance in analytics.
• Prior experience coordinating data or AI initiatives involving multiple product or engineering teams.
• Experience leading agile or cross-functional data delivery teams.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• Advanced knowledge of data and insight frameworks used to ensure consistency, quality, and explainability across analytics and AI.
• Proven ability to lead complex analytical or governance initiatives spanning multiple domains.
• Deep understanding of metadata, lineage, validation, and data stewardship principles.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and diagnostic skills for assessing complex systems and identifying improvements.
• Effective communicator capable of influencing technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Demonstrated leadership in mentoring, coordination, and continuous improvement of data and analytical practices

The salary/hourly range is $103,700.00 – $134,460.00. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. Depending on an employee’s assigned worksite or location, Amtrak may consider a geo-pay differential to be applied to the employee’s base salary. Amtrak may offer additional incentive and pay programs to recognize and reward our employees, including a short-term incentive bonus based upon factors such as individual and company performance that is commensurate with the level of the position. In addition to your salary, Amtrak offers a comprehensive benefit package that includes health, dental, and vision plans; health savings accounts; wellness programs; flexible spending accounts; 401K retirement plan with employer match; life insurance; short and long term disability insurance; paid time off; back-up care; adoption assistance; surrogacy assistance; reimbursement of education expenses; Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility; Railroad Retirement sickness and retirement benefits; and rail pass privileges. Learn more about our benefits offerings here.

Requisition ID:166264

Work Arrangement:06-Onsite 4/5 Days Click here for more information about work arrangements at Amtrak.
Relocation Offered:No
Travel Requirements:Up to 25%

You power our progress through your performance.

We want your work at Amtrak to be more than a job. We want your career at Amtrak to be a fulfilling experience where you find challenging work, rewarding opportunities, respect among colleagues, and attractive compensation. Amtrak maintains a culture that values high performance and recognizes individual employee contributions.

Amtrak is committed to a safe workplace free of drugs and alcohol. All Amtrak positions requires a pre-employment background check that includes prior employment verification, a criminal history check and a pre-employment drug screen.

Candidates who test positive for marijuana will be disqualified, regardless of any state or local statute, ordinance, regulation, or other law that legalizes or decriminalizes the use or possession of marijuana, whether for medical, recreational, or other use. Amtrak's pre-employment drug testing program is administered in accordance with DOT regulations and applicable law.

In accordance with DOT regulations (49 CFR § 40.25), Amtrak is required to obtain prior drug and alcohol testing records for applicants/employees intending to perform safety-sensitive duties for covered Department of Transportation positions. If an applicant/employee refuses to provide written consent for Amtrak to obtain these records, the individual will not be permitted to perform safety-sensitive functions.

In accordance with federal law governing security checks of covered individuals for providers of public transportation (Title 6 U.S.C. §1143), Amtrak is required to screen applicants for any permanent or interim disqualifying criminal offenses.

Note that any education requirement listed above may be deemed satisfied if you have an equivalent combination of education, training and experience.

Amtrak is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race/color, to include traits historically associated with race, including but not limited to, hair texture and hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions, such as lactation), national origin/ethnicity, disability (intellectual, mental and physical), veteran status, marital status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, genetic information, citizenship or any other personal characteristics protected by law.