AI Ethicist

Macmillan

AI Ethicist overseeing ethical AI practices and governance at Macmillan Learning. Collaborating with AI teams to ensure compliance with ethical standards and regulatory requirements.

Posted 5/2/2026full-timeAustin • Texas • 🇺🇸 United StatesMid-LevelSeniorWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Python

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Develop, maintain, and operationalize Macmillan Learning's AI ethics framework and responsible AI policies.
Define standards for fairness, transparency, accountability, and privacy across AI-driven products.
Establish and chair an internal AI Review Committee to evaluate new AI capabilities prior to launch.
Translate emerging regulatory requirements (e.g., EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, state-level AI legislation) into actionable compliance roadmaps.
Serve as an embedded ethics and responsible AI partner within ML Engineering and Product R&D initiatives.
Participate in model design reviews, feature conceptualization, and prototype evaluation to identify and resolve ethical risks early in the development process.
Contribute to research into novel AI applications for learning—including adaptive systems, generative feedback, and intelligent assessment—ensuring that innovation is grounded in principled, well-documented methodology.
Help define evaluation frameworks for experimental models that account for fairness, validity, and pedagogical soundness.
Partner with Product, Technology, and Data Science teams during the AI development lifecycle to identify and mitigate ethical risks before deployment.
Conduct algorithmic impact assessments and bias audits on existing and emerging AI models.
Establish governance checkpoints within the MLOps pipeline and ensure documentation standards for model cards, data provenance, and audit trails are consistently met.
Design and deliver responsible AI training programs for employees across Product, Engineering, Content, and Sales functions.
Build internal resources and playbooks that embed ethical thinking into how teams work with AI tools and data.
Act as an internal advisor and escalation point for teams encountering ambiguous AI ethics scenarios.
Advise the CTO and senior leadership on the responsible adoption of emerging AI technologies, tools, and platforms.
Evaluate third-party AI systems and model providers against Macmillan Learning's ethics and compliance standards.
Contribute to the company's multi-year AI technology roadmap by identifying governance implications of strategic decisions—including model selection, data partnerships, infrastructure investment, and agentic AI deployment.
Support due diligence processes for AI-related acquisitions, vendor contracts, and integrations.
Serve as a key partner and relationship owner with senior AI researchers, safety leads, and ethics teams at leading AI organizations (e.g., Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, OpenAI) and academic institutions.
Represent Macmillan Learning's responsible AI interests in partner working groups, industry forums, and standards bodies.
Prepare and deliver executive briefings and customer-facing presentations on AI ethics topics, and engage with institutional customers and policymakers as needed.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's in Computer Science or data-adjacent field.
5 years' experience working in or closely alongside AI/ML teams, with a focus on ethics, governance, policy, or responsible AI.
Deep theoretical knowledge of machine learning concepts, including model fairness, bias mitigation, explainability/interpretability (XAI), privacy-preserving ML, and uncertainty quantification.
Proficiency in at least one programming language (Python strongly preferred); sufficient technical fluency to read and critically evaluate ML code, model outputs, and system architectures—without being a primary practitioner.
Demonstrated knowledge of the AI regulatory landscape including the EU AI Act, NIST AI Risk Management Framework, FTC AI guidance, and emerging U.S. state-level legislation.
Proven ability to communicate complex technical and ethical concepts to non-technical audiences including C-suite executives, customers, and board members.
Experience conducting or overseeing algorithmic impact assessments, bias audits, or AI risk evaluations.
Familiarity with MLOps practices and the AI product development lifecycle sufficient to embed governance checkpoints effectively.
Experience effectively communicating complex processes and issues verbally and in writing to audiences of diverse technical levels; ability to author policy documents, white papers, executive summaries, and customer-facing materials.
Comfort engaging with senior researchers and technical leads at AI-focused technology companies and academic institutions.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Competitive pay and bonus plan
Generous Health Benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision)
Contributions to your 401k retirement account through Fidelity
Generous paid time off, sick time, floating holidays, and paid holidays ( Spring Reset Day , Juneteenth, Indigenous People's Day, Election Day, and more !)
Employee Assistance Program, Education Assistance Program
100% employer-paid life and AD&D insurance
And much more!

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

machine learningmodel fairnessbias mitigationexplainabilityprivacy-preserving MLuncertainty quantificationPythonalgorithmic impact assessmentsbias auditsMLOps

Soft Skills

communicationethical reasoningcollaborationpresentation skillsadvisory skillsproblem-solvingcritical thinkingrelationship managementpolicy writingexecutive engagement