Lead Applied Scientist, AI Foundations

Capital One National Association; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 334,000 - 381,000; Full time

Job summary

Capital One is seeking a Staff Applied Researcher to advance AI foundations and deploy scalable AI systems that transform how customers interact with their money. You will collaborate with data scientists, engineers and product teams to translate research into practice in real‑time banking scenarios.

The role combines hands‑on model development with strategic leadership, mentoring researchers, and representing Capital One in the research community.

Qualifications

• PhD or MS in a relevant field with extensive applied research experience.
• Experience leading complex AI foundation model projects is preferred.
• Ability to mentor researchers and collaborate with engineering and product teams.

Responsibilities

• Partner with a cross-functional team of data scientists, software engineers, machine learning engineers and product managers to deliver AI-powered products that change how customers interact with their money.
• Leverage a broad stack of technologies — Pytorch, AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, Lightning, and more — to reveal the insights hidden within huge volumes of numeric and textual data.
• Build AI foundation models through all phases of development, from design through training, evaluation, validation, and implementation.
• Engage in high impact applied research to take the latest AI developments and push them into the next generation of customer experiences.
• Flex your interpersonal skills to translate the complexity of your work into tangible business goals.
• Define and steward novel research directions that expand the organization’s long‑term scientific agenda, ensuring foundational discoveries translate into deployable capabilities

Education

PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related fields

MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related fields

Job description

Capital One is seeking a Staff Applied Researcher to advance AI foundations and deploy scalable AI systems that transform how customers interact with their money. You will collaborate with data scientists, engineers and product teams to translate research into practice in real‑time banking scenarios.

The role combines hands‑on model development with strategic leadership, mentoring researchers, and representing Capital One in the research community.