Interested in this AI/ML Engineer role at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company?
Apply Now →About This Role
If you're passionate about being part of a diverse organization that enables a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales to deliver innovative business solutions with excellence, then Nationwide's Legal team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.*Collaborative and forward‑thinking AI \& Technology Counsel to support the company’s responsible use of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies across its insurance and financial services businesses. This role serves as a key legal advisor to technology, data, and business teams, enabling innovation while managing legal, regulatory, and operational risk.*
*The position is significantly AI‑focused, with responsibility for regulatory monitoring and emerging‑technology counseling and also provides targeted support on select technology matters such as website accessibility, disaster recovery, digital terms and conditions, contractor technology access, consultation on AI and technology\-related litigation, and sanctions‑related issues.*
- *AI \& Emerging Technology Counseling\- 30%*
+ *Advise business and technology teams on legal issues arising from the development, procurement, deployment, and use of AI and other emerging technologies.*
+ *Partner cross functionally to integrate legal and regulatory considerations into AI design, deployment, and lifecycle management.*
+ *Assess and help mitigate legal and regulatory risks associated with AI enabled decision making, including issues related to fairness, bias, transparency, and accountability.*
+ *Support AI governance.*
+ *Support compliance with emerging AI laws, including coordination of independent bias audits where required.*
- *AI Governance \& Regulatory Insight – 30%*
+ *Monitor and analyze legislative and regulatory developments related to AI and advanced technologies (e.g., AI chatbot laws), translating them into practical guidance.*
+ *Support the operation and evolution of Nationwide’s AI governance framework, including policies, review processes, internal coordination, and third\-party auditing.*
+ *Assist in bias analysis utilizing BIFSG methodology and review of internal model builds and provide support related to the NAIC AI Systems Evaluation Tool.*
+ *Lead the legal department’s internal AI working group and contribute to training and guidance for business and technology stakeholders.*
- *Technology \& Digital Platform Support – 20%*
+ *Provide legal guidance on technology related issues including disaster recovery and operational resilience.*
+ *Advise on website and digital platform accessibility and oversee legal review of website terms and conditions.*
+ *Provide legal advice across OCLO teams on matters related to technology implementation to ensure practical legal solutions are applied across innovative technologies.*
+ *Counsel on legal considerations related to contractor and third party access to Nationwide systems and technology.*
+ *Provide support on sanctions related matters that intersect with technology, vendors, or digital operations.*
- *Collaboration \& Risk Management – 20%*
+ *Work closely with internal subject matter experts to ensure aligned, efficient legal advice.*
+ *Serve as a central legal point of contact for AI related initiatives and emerging technology questions.*
+ *Engage with outside counsel as needed for specialized matters.*
This position is either a hybrid work schedule or fully remote depending on location.
\#LI\-CP1
Job Description Summary
Would you thrive in an environment where you can deliver top\-quality legal services to support the goals and objectives of a Fortune 100 insurance and financial services company? If you possess the legal education, skills and expertise needed to provide outstanding service, advice, and counsel, we want to hear from you!
As Senior Counsel, you'll independently provide expert advice and counsel on highly complex legal matters to senior\-level leaders. We'll count on you to create valuable risk management recommendations by actively identifying and logically assessing potential legal risks in ambiguous, unique and/or the most complex business situations which have the greatest potential for significant impact to the company.Job Description
Key Responsibilities:
- Provides the highest level of subject matter expertise for legal specialties on significant, high\-risk, or highly complex legal matters. Regularly attends business partner meetings to better understand business processes and needs.
- Identifies and logically assesses potential legal risks. Creates risk management/mitigation recommendations using sound risk assessment information to further achievement of business objectives. Drafts necessary legal documents and develops conclusions and recommendations.
- Regularly interacts with senior leaders in Office of the Chief Legal Officer (OCLO) or the company on legal matters within area(s) of legal expertise. Has input into or influence on company decision\-making.
- Creates practical and effective solutions to the most complex legal issues with no established precedent; develops creative solutions to unique legal problems; has significant interaction with persons outside of the company.
- Takes the lead role in matters that are highly complex, strategic, or sensitive in nature. Understands the business partner's position and needs.
- Keeps senior leaders and appropriate management of company informed of case law and new legislation, as appropriate. Considers the long\-term business and strategic consequences of possible outcomes. Delivers difficult messages or news, and challenges business partners when necessary; responds to challenges to advice and counsel directly and effectively.
- Brings a broad network of established relationships, both internal and external, to the organization, particularly in recognized areas of subject matter expertise.
- Works independently and may lead teams to resolve highly complex legal and organizational issues.
- Makes recommendations about and ensures compliance with approved outside counsel budget.
- Hires and develops talent, provides consistent coaching and feedback
May perform other responsibilities as assigned.
Reporting Relationships: Reports to Vice President/Associate Vice President/Managing Counsel; may lead a team of Legal professionals.
Typical Skills and Experiences:
Education: Juris Doctorate from an American Bar Association\-accredited law school.
License/Certification/Designation: Associates reporting within Nationwide’s OCLO who are functioning in attorney roles must be fully licensed in accordance with OCLO policy, in good standing and in compliance with all continuing legal education requirements at all times in the state(s) in which they practice.
Experience: Typically has 15 or more years of relevant legal experience. May have management experience. Has significant experience with or knowledge of one or more areas of law, complex legal practices and procedures, project management concept and techniques. Considered a subject matter authority within his or her areas of legal expertise. Sound business acuity and knowledge of the business goals and objectives as they relate to the matter at hand.
Knowledge, Abilities and Skills: Strong verbal and written communication skills for contacts interacting with all levels within OCLO and with business partners. Analytical ability to interpret statutes, regulations, insurance policies and other contracts. Decision\-making ability to set work priorities and make recommendations. Ability to lead cross\-functional projects. Ability to lead, initiate, organize and coordinate highly complex projects and/or cases. Takes the lead role in negotiations that are complex, strategic, or sensitive in nature. Supervisory skills useful. Significant professional and/or civic involvement.
Other criteria, including leadership skills, competencies and experiences may take precedence.
Staffing exceptions to the above must be approved by the hiring manager’s leader and Human Resources Business Partner.
Values: Regularly and consistently demonstrates Nationwide Values.
Job Conditions:
Overtime Eligibility: Not Eligible (Exempt)
Working Conditions: Normal office environment. Some travel may be required.
ADA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.
Credit/Background Check: Due to the fiduciary accountabilities of this job, a valid credit and/or background check will be required as part of the selection process.
We currently anticipate accepting applications until 09/17/2026\. However, we encourage early submissions, as the posting may close sooner if a strong candidate slate is identified before the deadline.Benefits
We have an array of benefits to fit your needs, including: medical/dental/vision, life insurance, short and long term disability coverage, paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro\-rated quarterly based on hire date, nine paid holidays, 8 hours of Lifetime paid time off, 8 hours of Unity Day paid time off, 401(k) with company match, company\-paid pension plan, business casual attire, and more.
Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.
This position could be filled within any of the lower 48 U.S. states.
\#legal
Smoke\-Free Iowa Statement: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, its affiliates and subsidiaries comply with the Iowa Smokefree Air Act. Smoking is prohibited in all enclosed areas on or around company premises as well as company issued vehicles. The company offers designated smoking areas in which smoking is permitted at each individual location. The Act prohibits retaliation for reporting complaints or violations. For more information on the Iowa Smokefree Air Act, individuals may contact the Smokefree Air Act Helpline at 888\-944\-2247\.
For NY residents please review the following state law information: Notice of Employee Rights, Protections, and Obligations LS740 (ny.gov) https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/02/ls740\_1\.pdfNOTE TO EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES:
We value the partnerships we have built with our preferred vendors. Nationwide does not accept unsolicited resumes from employment agencies. All resumes submitted by employment agencies directly to any Nationwide employee or hiring manager in any form without a signed Nationwide Client Services Agreement on file and search engagement for that position will be deemed unsolicited in nature. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is subsequently hired as a result of the referral or through other means.
Nationwide pays on a geographic\-specific salary structure and placement within the actual starting salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity and location of the role as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. If a Sales job, Sales Incentives, based on performance goals are possible in addition to this range. Note on Compensation for Part\-Time Roles: Please be aware that the salary ranges listed below reflect full\-time compensation. Actual compensation may be prorated based on the number of hours worked relative to a full\-time schedule.
The national salary range for Senior Counsel \- 651000 : $149,000\.00\-$279,000\.00
The expected starting salary range for Senior Counsel \- 651000 : $149,000\.00 \- $249,000\.00
- Job Category Legal
- Position Type Full Time
- Posted 2026\-08\-11T13:13:01\.270438\+00:00
- Location(s)
+ Ohio \- Columbus, One Nationwide Plaza
+ United States \- Remote
- Line of Business
- Entity
- Recruiter
- Hiring Manager
- Experience Level
- Req ID 099599
Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 4,317 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 70% of the market. At Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills in Demand for This Role
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $214,900 based on 6,420 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $227,400.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($287,500) and Research Engineer ($272,100). By seniority level: Entry: $110,000; Mid: $194,400; Senior: $227,400; Director: $274,554; VP: $241,000.
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company AI Hiring
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company has 3 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer. Based in Columbus, OH, US.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 15% (635 positions) offer remote work, while 3,657 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (1,650 roles, $220,000 median); San Francisco (1,335 roles, $265,000 median); Los Angeles (708 roles, $214,112 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 4,317 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 138 entry-level, 2,071 mid-level, 1,655 senior, and 453 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 15% of the market (635 positions). The remaining 3,657 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($287,500 median, 34 roles); Research Engineer ($272,100 median, 227 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($244,000 median, 23 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 4,317 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (3,004), Data Scientist (345), AI Software Engineer (309). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (138) are outnumbered by mid-level (2,071) and senior (1,655) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 453 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 15% of all AI roles (635 positions), with 3,657 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $215,000. Top-quartile roles start at $266,300, and the 90th percentile reaches $320,790. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $287,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $145,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (2,249 postings), Aws (1,224 postings), Azure (938 postings), Rag (915 postings), Gcp (660 postings), Pytorch (640 postings), Prompt Engineering (624 postings), Kubernetes (559 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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