Principal Data Scientist / AI Engineer

POSITION TITLE: Principal Data Scientist (P5)For more than three decades, Crown Castle has led the way in shared communications infrastructure, delivering profitable solutions by connecting communities, businesses, and people, and enabling each to thrive with reliable access to voice and data in more places, faster than ever before. When you join Crown Castle, you become part of a dynamic team of passionate and collaborative professionals engaging in complex challenges and contributing to projects that shape the future of life and work. ABOUT THE ROLEThis role focuses on designing, building, and deploying production-ready AI solutions that support enterprise workflows across operations, engineering, finance, and corporate functions. You will work at the intersection of applied research and software engineering, translating modern AI capabilities into secure, reliable, and scalable systems used in business-critical environments.This role offers the opportunity to work on real enterprise problems with measurable impact, apply modern AI responsibly at scale, and help shape how AI is adopted across the organization with a strong emphasis on governance, reliability, and long-term value.WHAT YOU WILL DOAI Solution & Agent DevelopmentDesign and implement LLM-powered applications, assistants, and agentic workflowsApply prompt engineering, tool calling, and orchestration patternsTranslate business problems into scalable AI-enabled solutionsData & RAG ArchitectureDesign data pipelines for ingestion, embeddings, and retrievalImplement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutionsOptimize relevance, context management, and response qualityWorkflow Automation & IntegrationBuild AI-driven workflows with conditional logic and human-in-the-loop controlsIntegrate with enterprise data platforms, APIs, and internal systemsProduction Engineering & DeploymentDeploy AI models and applications using modern engineering practicesEnsure scalability, reliability, monitoring, and cost efficiencySupport CI/CD pipelines and cloud-native deploymentsSecurity, Governance & Responsible AIImplement access controls, data protection, and PII handlingSupport AI governance, auditability, and compliance requirementsContribute to explainability, bias mitigation, and responsible AI practicesWHAT YOU WILL NEED TO SUCCEEDEducation QualificationsBachelor's degree in Math, Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, physics, engineering, or other qualitative discipline requiredGraduate Degree preferredExperience Qualifications10+ years of experience hands-on experience applying descriptive statistics, machine learning, predictive modeling, and visualization techniques to solve challenging business problems requiredExpert knowledge in: Statistical and machine learning techniques, Data Science libraries in a programming or scripting language, model deployment, machine learning workflows requiredStrong proficiency in Python and DevOps and source control management tools requiredExperience deploying AI or ML solutions in production environmentsStrong understanding of LLM-based applications and agentic systemsExperience with RAG architectures and semantic searchFamiliarity with MLOps, monitoring, and CI/CD practicesExperience working in enterprise or regulated environmentsKey SkillsApplied machine learning and AILLM application development and prompt engineeringAgentic workflows and orchestrationPython and modern software engineeringData pipelines and enterprise data integrationWHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKEProduction AI solutions that are secure, reliable, and trusted by the businessMeasurable improvements in automation, efficiency, or decision qualityReusable AI components leveraged across teamsStrong engineering quality, documentation, and collaborationOrganizational RelationshipReports to: Sr Manager Data Analytics Title(s) of direct reports (if applicable): N/AWhere You Will WorkTo optimize collaboration, relationship building, and key stakeholder engagement, this role aligns to a 4:1 hybrid model which is in office Monday-Thursday with the option for remote work on Fridays. YOUR COMPANY BENEFITSAt Crown Castle, we do our best to ensure you have access to the resources you need to live a healthy and happy life no matter where you are in life. Our benefits are built around your individual needs, covering physical, mental, and financial health and designed to enhance your quality of life.We are proud to offer a full suite of health and wealth benefits for you and your loved ones. Below are a few of the key highlights of the many benefits we provide.Comprehensive healthcare plans with highly company subsidized premiums and up to $2,000 annual company contribution to your Health Savings Account (HSA base plan for employee and dependents).Market-leading 401(k) plan, which includes up to 10% company contributions through our 5% match and 5% profit sharing program (based on employee contributions).New-child leave up to 8 weeks of 100% paid leave upon birth or legal adoption of a new child. Birth mothers are eligible for up to 8 weeks of additional 100% paid medical leave.Tuition reimbursement up to $5,250 per year of eligible tuition and fees.Crown Castle scholarship program awarding up to $10,000 per recipient each year for eligible dependent children of employees and interns.Matching charitable contributions to qualified charitable organizations of up to $1,000 per year per teammate.Generous paid time-off for eligible full-time employees (minimum 18 days per year based on years of service).10 company holidays plus 2 floating holiday.All offices provide free beverages and snacks.CompensationThe salary range offered for this position is $155000 - $213100 annually. A candidate's offer is determined by various factors including but not limited to, depth of experience, role-related knowledge and skills, relevant education or training, internal alignment, and work location. Depending on the position offered, the compensation package may also include incentive compensation opportunities in the form of a discretionary annual cash bonus or commissions, and equity incentives.Additional InformationPursuant to the Los Angeles County and San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.If you are interested in joining our team, please visit the Crown Castle careers site to apply. We do not accept resumes from agencies, headhunters, or other third-party suppliers who have not signed a formal agreement with us. This position will remain posted until filled.Job SummaryRequisition Number: PRINC012440Job Category: Information TechnologySchedule: Full-Time