Senior/Lead Research Engineer - AI/ML- Applied AI

FICO (NYSE: FICO) is a leading global analytics software company, helping businesses in 100+ countries make better decisions. Join our world-class team today and fulfill your career potential!

The Opportunity

"As a Senior Research Engineer on our newly formed Applied AI team, you will be at the forefront of integrating robust machine learning techniques with the next-generation AI capabilities. You will research, design, build, and maintain scalable ML systems that power critical functions across our platform—from fraud investigation and decision automation to process flow optimization. In this role, you will ensure high data quality, system reliability, and stringent governance for all AI-driven initiatives, making a lasting impact on FICO’s innovative platform. Collaborate with a dedicated team and drive innovation through deep expertise in Machine Learning and System Engineering." - VP. AI Engineering

What You’ll Contribute

• Design methods, tools and infrastructure to push the state of the art in large language model, that integrates the applied AI capabilities seamlessly into FICO’s analytics and decision management platform.

• Define research goals informed by practical engineering excellence and concerns.

• Design, analyze and execute scientific experiments to advance the understanding of large language models.

• Contribute to the experiments, including designing experimental details, writing reusable code, running evaluations, and organizing results.

• Conduct product-driven research and implement solutions in areas such as model architecture, algorithms, data processing, and optimizer development.

• Explore novel research topics for post-training foundation LLMs and align solutions with our product strategy.

• Optimize and scale the training infrastructure to improve efficiency and reliability.

• Adapt standard machine learning methods to best exploit modern parallel environments like distributed clusters, multicore SMP, and GPU).

What We’re Seeking

• 8+ years experience in Machine Learning and Software Engineering with a demonstrated history of managing complex, large-scale projects.

• 4+ years of research experience in machine learning, deep learning, and natural language processing. Experience developing machine learning models at scale from inception to business impact.

• Strong coding skills in Python and hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Jax, TensorFlow).

• Experience with Deep Learning models (e.g., DNN, LLM, etc.) training, data processing, and evaluation.

• Experience with architectural patterns of large-scale ML systems, and integrating AI/ML solutions with Large Language Models.

• Experience with embeddings and information retrieval; exposure to Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures and familiarity with a vector database is preferred.

• Exceptional problem-solving skills with the ability to mentor teams and collaborate effectively across departments.

• Bachelor/Master’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Our Offer to You

• An inclusive culture strongly reflecting our core values:  Act Like an Owner, Delight Our Customers and Earn the Respect of Others.

• The opportunity to make an impact and develop professionally by leveraging your unique strengths and participating in valuable learning experiences.

• Highly competitive compensation, benefits and rewards programs that encourage you to bring your best every day and be recognized for doing so.

• An engaging, people-first work environment offering work/life balance, employee resource groups, and social events to promote interaction and camaraderie.

• The targeted base pay range for this role is: $137,000 to $215,000 with this range reflecting differences in candidate knowledge, skills and experience.
   

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Why Make a Move to FICO?

At FICO, you can develop your career with a leading organization in one of the fastest-growing fields in technology today – Big Data analytics.  You’ll play a part in our commitment to help businesses use data to improve every choice they make, using advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, optimization, and much more.

FICO makes a real difference in the way businesses operate worldwide:

•    Credit Scoring — FICO® Scores are used by 90 of the top 100 US lenders.

•    Fraud Detection and Security — 4 billion payment cards globally are protected by FICO fraud systems.

•    Lending — 3/4 of US mortgages are approved using the FICO Score.

Global trends toward digital transformation have created tremendous demand for FICO’s solutions, placing us among the world’s top 100 software companies by revenue. We help many of the world’s largest banks, insurers, retailers, telecommunications providers and other firms reach a new level of success. Our success is dependent on really talented people – just like you – who thrive on the collaboration and innovation that’s nurtured by a diverse and inclusive environment. We’ll provide the support you need, while ensuring you have the freedom to develop your skills and grow your career.  Join FICO and help change the way business thinks!

Learn more about how you can fulfil your potential at www.fico.com/Careers

FICO promotes a culture of inclusion and seeks to attract a diverse set of candidates for each job opportunity. We are an equal employment opportunity employer and we’re proud to offer employment and advancement opportunities to all candidates without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. Research has shown that women and candidates from underrepresented communities may not apply for an opportunity if they don’t meet all stated qualifications. While our qualifications are clearly related to role success, each candidate’s profile is unique and strengths in certain skill and/or experience areas can be equally effective. If you believe you have many, but not necessarily all, of the stated qualifications we encourage you to apply.

Information submitted with your application is subject to the FICO Privacy policy at https://www.fico.com/en/privacy-policy