Principal AI Research Engineer

2 weeks ago

San Diego, California, United States FICO Full time $250,000 - $300,000 per year

Location: San Diego, CA (Onsite, 4 days/week)

Compensation: $250,000 – $300,000 base + top-tier RSUs + joining bonus + performance bonus + industry-leading benefits.

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, spanning natural language, transactional, speech, vision, and other modalities."

— Senior Director, AI Innovation & Development

This is a high-visibility, exclusive opportunity to work directly with
Dr. Scott Zoldi (FICO's Chief Analytics Officer, 110+ AI patents)
and the leadership team to build something transformational for FICO in the U.S. It's not just a role—it's a career-defining opportunity to become a founding member of a new AI innovation function inside one of the most trusted names in credit, risk, and decision science.

What You'll Contribute

• Lead & Innovate: Design, advance, and deploy AI models in collaboration with Product, Engineering, and Pre-Sales teams.
• Build Focused LLMs: Create domain-specific language models tailored to customer needs (fraud, collections, financial services, education, and platform innovation).
• Architect Systems: Implement novel architectures (transformers, encoders/decoders, diffusion), optimize distributed training pipelines (PyTorch/CUDA), and design robust pre/post-training frameworks.
• Apply GenAI: Build domain datasets, business-relevant benchmarks, and agentic/multi-agent AI systems with real-world applications.
• Data-Driven Impact: Conduct deep analysis of large datasets to apply the best ML/GenAI techniques for measurable business outcomes.
• Mentor & Influence: Guide scientists, mentor future AI leaders, and represent FICO externally with thought leadership.
• Drive Growth: Contribute ideas that fuel innovation and inorganic product growth.

What We're Seeking

• Strong engineering expertise in Python plus C++/Rust.
• Proven experience with pre-training and fine-tuning of modern AI architectures (transformers, LLMs, diffusion models).
• Hands-on with distributed systems, concurrency, and scaling training pipelines.
• Familiarity with Reinforcement Learning (RL), simulation, and synthetic data generation.
• Track record of delivering end-to-end AI/ML projects at scale.
• Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or related fields.
• Ability to work onsite in San Diego, CA; willingness to travel up to 10%.

Why This Role Stands Out

• Work directly with Dr. Scott Zoldi, a globally recognized AI leader with 101+ patents.
• Be a founding member of a new GenAI business within a U.S. credit leader.
• Tackle real-world, high-impact AI problems at enterprise scale.
• Thrive in an innovation-first culture with the stability and credibility of FICO.

Our Offer to You

• Base Salary: $250K – $300K, tailored to your expertise and experience.
• Compensation Package: Industry-best RSUs, joining bonus, performance bonus.
• Benefits: Comprehensive health, wellness, and financial programs.
• Work-Life Balance: People-first culture, flexible structure, and strong emphasis on balance and growth.

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