## Qualifications
- Excellent software engineering skills, experience in Python, Rust and/or C++
- Experience with pre/post training of modern AI architectures (transformers, encoders, decoders, diffusion)
- Real-world experience with distributed systems and concurrency
- Experience with Reinforcement Learning (RL), Simulation and/or Synthetic Data Generation
- Prior experience managing, scaling and delivering high-quality, on-time AI/ML projects
- MS or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or related fields
- Requires full-time, on-site presence at the FICO office in San Diego, CA
- Willingness to travel up to 10%
## Benefits
- 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: $167,000 to $262,000 with this range reflecting differences in candidate knowledge, skills and experience
- We’ll provide the support you need, while ensuring you have the freedom to develop your skills and grow your career
## Responsibilities
- Design and advance AI models and system innovations in close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including Product Management, Software Engineering, and Pre-Sales—to ensure high-quality performance and delivery
- Develop Focused Language Models , which are LLMs designed to solve our customers’ business problems in areas such as fraud, collections, financial services operations, financial education and FICO Platform software
- Implement novel architectures (transformers and others), optimizing distributed training pipelines (Pytorch/CUDA) for efficient pre and post training, building domain specific datasets and business-relevant benchmarks
- Communicating to high-level stakeholders internally and externally
- Conduct hands-on analysis of large historical datasets to identify the best modeling techniques, demonstrating expertise in various algorithms and modeling processes with cutting-edge machine learning techniques
- Guide and mentor scientists to support their career development
- Drive innovation and inorganic growth of new and existing products through offering and promoting refined ideas
## Full Description
Principal Research Engineer - AI Innovation and Development page is loaded
Principal Research Engineer - AI Innovation and Development
Apply locations San Diego, CA time type Full time posted on Posted 3 Days Ago job requisition id 30232
FICO (NYSE: FICO)is a leading global analytics software company, helping businesses in 100+ countries make better decisions. Join our world-class team today andfulfill your career potential!
The Opportunity
"As a Principal Research Engineer, you’ll have a unique opportunity to build, train and deploy FICO’s diverse range of Foundational AI models. As part of our dynamic team, your expertise will play a crucial role in shaping the technology and architecture of our latest innovations, which encompasses domains across natural language, transactional, speech, vision and other modalities." – Senior Director, AI Innovation and Development.
What You’ll Contribute
- Design and advance AI models and system innovations in close collaboration with cross-functional teams, including Product Management, Software Engineering, and Pre-Sales—to ensure high-quality performance and delivery.
- Develop Focused Language Models , which are LLMs designed to solve our customers’ business problems in areas such as fraud, collections, financial services operations, financial education and FICO Platform software. Implement novel architectures (transformers and others), optimizing distributed training pipelines (Pytorch/CUDA) for efficient pre and post training, building domain specific datasets and business-relevant benchmarks.
- Communicating to high-level stakeholders internally and externally.
- Conduct hands-on analysis of large historical datasets to identify the best modeling techniques, demonstrating expertise in various algorithms and modeling processes with cutting-edge machine learning techniques.
- Guide and mentor scientists to support their career development.
- Drive innovation and inorganic growth of new and existing products through offering and promoting refined ideas.
What We’re Seeking
- Excellent software engineering skills, experience in Python, Rust and/or C++.
- Experience with pre/post training of modern AI architectures (transformers, encoders, decoders, diffusion).