Lead Machine Learning Engineer

About FICO

FICO (NYSE: FICO) is a leading global analytics software company, helping businesses in 100+ countries make better decisions.

Our impact:

• 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

FICO is among the world's top 100 software companies by revenue. Our clients include more than half of the top 100 banks in the world, more than 600 personal and commercial line insurers in North America and Europe, 400+ retailers and general merchandisers, all of the 100 largest U.S. credit card issuers, and more.

The Opportunity

Join a highly talented team of engineers and scientists enabling advanced predictive models deployed into cloud-based real-time transaction processing systems. You will contribute to FICO products and strategic initiatives involving analytic innovation with a strong focus on building, testing, and deploying advanced analytics for the FICO Platform. You will have the opportunity to build industry leading solutions and stay at the forefront of modern AI and ML technologies.

What You'll Contribute

• Contribute to the requirements and development of advanced distributed ML architectures, pipelines, tools, infrastructure, and algorithms that scale up to support both production execution and development of real-time predictive analytics on large volumes of high-throughput transactional data
• Integrate and evaluate advanced ML technologies, platforms and frameworks
• Balance performance and cost constraints
• Establish strong processes, quality controls, and ethical standards for PII and IP protection, analytic development, and product delivery
• Interact and collaborate with cross functional teams (Software Development, QA, Professional Services, IT, Product Management, Sales, and Product Support)
• Drive and influence analytic and software designs decisions to ensure successful integration of analytic models into FICO Platform
• Mentor junior engineers and scientists
• Travel and work outside of normal business hours as business dictates

What We're Seeking

Education:

• M.S. or Ph.D. degree in computer science, engineering, physics, or a related technical field

Experience:

• Industry experience with a proven success record in analytic software, data engineering, or machine learning
• Experience working with cloud-based and distributed architectures, large real-world datasets, and production software or analytics
• Experience building predictive analytic models and data analysis
• Background in fintech, financial services, insurance, or other regulated domains where model accountability and compliance are paramount

Technical Skills:

• Strong competency in two or more programming languages such as C, C++, Java, or Python
• Experience working with distributed computing platforms and frameworks, SQL and no-SQL databases
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and container orchestration using Docker and Kubernetes
• Experience working in Linux environment and working proficiency with Linux scripting languages
• Experience with testing frameworks, A/B testing, performance optimization, and production monitoring and observability practices (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, OpenTelemetry)

Knowledge and Competencies:

• Strong knowledge of computer science fundamentals, software design principles, and best practices such as agile development, unit testing, version control, and continuous integration
• Working knowledge of machine learning fundamentals, mathematics, statistics, and algorithms
• Familiarity with AI governance practices: model explainability, prompt versioning, evaluation logging, and audit-readiness in regulated environments
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to mentor engineers, influence technical direction, and collaborate across disciplines

Compensation and Benefits

Base Pay Range: $122,500 to $192,500 (reflecting differences in candidate knowledge, skills and experience)

What We Offer:

• 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

Equal Opportunity

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