Principal AI Engineer/ AI Applied Scientist

About the role

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 Principal Applied AI Engineer on FICO's Generative AI team, you will work at the frontier of language model applications, designing novel solutions that reach across the FICO platform, from fraud investigation and decision automation to process flow automation and optimization. You will be the architect of robust, scalable, and well-governed AI systems, ensuring they perform reliably at enterprise scale.

Working alongside a dedicated team, you will apply your expertise in AI and machine learning to infuse the platform with next-generation capabilities and drive innovation that makes a meaningful, lasting impact.

What You'll Contribute

• Design and implement cutting-edge LLM-powered solutions for decision automation, fraud investigation, and process automation within FICO's platform.
• Develop sophisticated prompting strategies and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures tailored to high-stakes applications.
• Apply advanced fine-tuning, in-context learning techniques, and custom evaluation frameworks to optimize AI model performance.
• Build robust model evaluation and governance systems, ensuring compliance and reliability across applications.
• Design and execute comprehensive backtesting methodologies to validate model predictions and performance.
• Implement A/B testing frameworks to evaluate the impact of various AI interventions on system performance.
• Monitor model performance and detect drift to maintain high accuracy and relevance over time.
• Research and integrate the latest AI techniques to keep FICO's platform at the forefront of innovation.
• Evaluate new models, architectures, and training approaches, experimenting with emerging technologies to enhance platform capabilities.
• Develop custom RAG implementations to enhance information retrieval within decision processes.
• Write production-quality code, implementing machine learning systems with attention to scalability, reliability, and security.
• Design scalable architectures that support FICO's analytics and decisioning solutions.
• Implement advanced monitoring techniques and system reliability checks to maintain operational excellence.

What We're Seeking

• Extensive industry experience in software, ML or data engineering, with a history of managing complex, large-scale projects and driving strategic technical decisions.
• In-depth knowledge and experience in fine-tuning, model adaptation, and customization.
• Solid foundation in machine learning evaluation and testing methodologies, including the development of custom evaluation frameworks.
• Extensive experience with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures and familiarity with vector databases
• Strong hands-on coding in Python, Go, Java, or similar languages.
• Experience with PyTorch, JAX or similar deep learning frameworks.
• Knowledge of backtesting methodologies to ensure reliability and robustness of model predictions.
• Experience with A/B testing frameworks.
• Expertise in model monitoring, drift detection, and governance to maintain compliance and operational integrity.
• Proven expertise in modern Large Language Models (LLMs) and their applications preferred.
• Strong skills in prompt engineering and chain-of-thought prompting techniques.
• Familiarity with compliance and regulatory technology, particularly in AI-driven decisioning environments.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, with experience in writing production-quality code and designing scalable architectures.
• Proven ability to mentor teams and collaborate across departments to deliver high-impact solutions.
• Experience in fast-paced environments, with an ability to adapt and drive impact in high-growth, high-stakes settings.
• Publications, patents, or open-source contributions that showcase thought leadership and technical expertise in AI and machine learning.
• Bachelor's/Master's/PhD degree in computer science, or a related field with focus in Machine Learning.

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: $171,500 to $269,500 with this range reflecting differences in candidate knowledge, skills and experience.
• #LI-RR1
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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!

FICO promotes a culture of inclusion and seeks to attract a diverse set of candidates for each job opportunity. 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.