Principal AI Research Engineer (San Diego)

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, youll have a unique opportunity to build, train, and deploy FICOs 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 (FICOs Chief Analytics Officer, 110+ AI patents) and the leadership team to build something transformational for FICO in the U.S. Its not just a roleits 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 Youll 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 Were 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.