James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916), is a Canadian-American railroad executive.

He is the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which serves a substantial area of the Upper Midwest, the northern Great Plains, and Pacific Northwest.

Because of the size of this region and the economic dominance exerted by the Hill lines, Hill becomes known during his lifetime as The Empire Builder.