Data Scientist, Principal - AI Product Engineering

Blue Shield of CA; Springfield Meadows (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Shield of California is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to lead the development and deployment of novel AI/ML applications, translating cutting-edge research into real-world products. You will design, build, and ship LLM-powered apps, AI agents, RAG, and AI-enabled automation embedded in customer-facing applications and workflows.

The role emphasizes rapid feature delivery, cross-team collaboration, and setting technical direction for AI across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or quantitative discipline; advanced degrees preferred.
• 10 years of relevant experience in data science, ML, applied AI/ML, software engineering, or analytics.
• Proven track record of shipping software products rapidly, not just developing models or analyses.
• Strong software engineering skills and proficiency in Python, including building APIs and backend services.
• Experience leading ML design and optimizing ML infrastructure, model deployment, evaluation, and data processing, and working with ML frameworks and libraries.
• Hands-on with deep learning and LLM frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, LangGraph).
• Hands-on experience building apps leveraging generative AI models (prompt engineering, RAG).
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud); scalable data processing (SQL/Spark).
• Solid MLOps and LLMOps: CI/CD, monitoring, model lifecycle management.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and deployment of novel AI/ML applications, translating research into real-world products.
• Design, build, and ship production-grade AI products including LLM-powered apps, AI agents, copilots, and RAG/search capabilities.
• Drive technical direction for AI usage across the organization and collaborate with partner teams to maximize impact.

Skills

Python

API development

ML design

ML infrastructure

Model deployment

Data processing

PyTorch

TensorFlow

LangChain

LangGraph

Prompt engineering

RAG

Azure

AWS

Google Cloud

MLOps

CI/CD

Monitoring

Model lifecycle management

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science / quantitative discipline

Master's degree or PhD preferred

Job description

Your Role

The AI & Machine Learning team works in partnership across the enterprise to accelerate business outcomes by applying AI, machine learning, and generative AI to build intelligent products that create "intelligence at scale." Reporting to the Director, AI & Machine Learning, the Data Scientist, Principal will lead the development and deployment of novel applications that leverage generative AI models. This role focuses on rapidly developing new features and working across partner teams to deliver solutions and maximize impact, translating cutting-edge AI research into real-world products and taking features from 0 to 1. You will design, build, and ship production-grade AI products including LLM-powered applications, AI agents and copilots, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and search, and AI-enabled automation embedded directly into customer-facing applications and enterprise workflows such as claims, payment integrity, clinical insights, and member experience. You will set the technical direction for how AI is applied across the organization.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow - personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, a quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical experience; Master's degree or PhD preferred
• 10 years of prior relevant experience in data science, machine learning, applied AI/ML, software engineering, or advanced analytics
• Proven track record of building and shipping software products rapidly, not just developing models or analyses
• Strong software engineering skills and proficiency in Python, including building APIs and backend services
• Experience leading ML design and optimizing ML infrastructure, model deployment, evaluation, and data processing, and working with machine learning frameworks and libraries
• Hands-on experience with deep learning and LLM application frameworks, including PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, and LangGraph
• Hands-on experience building applications that leverage generative AI models, including prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Experience with generative AI research or applications preferred
• Experience designing agent-based systems and orchestration frameworks preferred
• Experience with cloud computing platforms and infrastructure (e.g., Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS), and scalable data processing with SQL or Spark preferred
• Solid MLOps and LLMOps practices, including CI/CD, monitoring, and model lifecycle management preferred
• Experience rapidly developing and shipping software in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment, adapting to changing priorities preferred
• Understanding of responsible AI and governance for regulated or healthcare environments preferred

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

#LI-CM1