Lead Machine Learning Engineer (Manager IC)

Hobbsnews; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 197,300 - 225,100; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Competitive salary

Inclusive workplace

Job summary

Capital One in Cambridge, MA seeks a Lead Machine Learning Engineer to oversee AI product development. You will collaborate with engineers and product managers to design and support AI systems, ensuring quality and governance.

The ideal candidate has significant experience in machine learning and distributed computing, with a Bachelor's degree and strong programming skills. A competitive salary and inclusive benefits are offered.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required.
• 6+ years of experience in data-intensive solutions.
• 4+ years of programming experience in Python, Scala, or Java.
• 2+ years of experience in ML systems.

Responsibilities

• Partner with teams to deliver AI-powered products.
• Design and support AI software components.
• Develop and evaluate machine learning models.
• Build optimized data pipelines for ML.

Skills

Building systems

Programming in Python

Data-intensive solutions

Machine learning expertise

Collaborative communication

Agile methodologies

Education

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Python

Scala

Java

ML frameworks

Job description

Lead Machine Learning Engineer (Manager IC)

At Capital One, we are changing banking for good by creating responsible and reliable AI‑powered systems. Our investments in technology infrastructure and world‑class talent, along with our deep experience in machine learning, position us at the forefront of enterprises leveraging AI. From informing customers about unusual charges to answering their questions in real time, our applications of AI & ML bring humanity and simplicity to banking.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with cross‑functional teams of engineers, data scientists, product managers, and designers to deliver AI‑powered products that change how associates work and provide value to customers.
• Design, develop, test, deploy, and support AI software components that utilize machine learning models, including model evaluation, experimentation, large language model inference, similarity search, guardrails, governance, observability, and agentic AI.
• Fine‑tune, develop, and evaluate machine learning and foundation models.
• Collaborate as part of a cross‑functional Agile team to create and enhance software that utilizes state‑of‑the‑art AI and ML capabilities.
• Contribute thought leadership and technical vision to the long‑term roadmap of pioneering AI systems at Capital One.
• Leverage a broad stack of Open Source and SaaS AI technologies.
• Inform ML infrastructure decisions using a deep understanding of ML modeling techniques and associated issues.
• Retrain, maintain, and monitor models in production.
• Construct optimized data pipelines to feed ML models.
• Ensure all code is well‑managed to reduce vulnerabilities, models are well‑governed from a risk perspective, and ML follows best practices in Responsible and Explainable AI.

Ideal Candidate

• You love to build systems, take pride in the quality of your work, and share our passion to do the right thing.
• You are a passionate communicator, comfortable with explaining complex technical concepts to non‑technical partners across the business, sometimes in front of large audiences.
• You stay abreast of the latest research, intuitively understand scientific publications, and judiciously apply novel techniques in production.
• You adapt quickly and thrive on bringing clarity to large, undefined problems, asking questions, digging deep to uncover root causes, and articulating findings concisely.
• You are deeply technical with a strong foundation in engineering and mathematics, and your expertise in hardware, software, and AI enables you to exploit optimization opportunities others miss.
• You are a resilient trailblazer who can forge new paths to achieve business goals when the route is unknown.
• Strategic & Business‑Oriented: Think beyond the technology, deeply understand business needs, and prioritize work that delivers the greatest business value.
• Highly Collaborative & Transparent: Partner seamlessly across engineering, product, and data science teams, communicate progress, blockers, and decisions clearly, and share knowledge proactively.
• Technically Mature & Humble: Demonstrate professional maturity by committing to and executing on team decisions.
• Flexible & Fungible: Roll up your sleeves and contribute wherever the team needs you most, adapting to evolving priorities.
• A Lifelong Learner: Stay current with the latest AI research and apply novel techniques to production systems with a focus on business impact.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree
• At least 6 years of experience designing and building data‑intensive solutions using distributed computing (internship experience does not apply)
• At least 4 years of experience programming with Python, Scala, or Java
• At least 2 years of experience building, scaling, and optimizing ML systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or Doctoral Degree in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, or a similar field
• 7+ years of experience designing, developing, delivering, and supporting AI services at scale
• 3+ years of experience building production‑ready data pipelines that feed ML models
• 3+ years of experience with an industry‑recognized ML framework such as scikit‑learn, PyTorch, Dask, Spark, or TensorFlow
• 3+ years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies using Python
• 2+ years of experience with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
• 2+ years of experience with data gathering and preparation for ML models
• 2+ years of people‑leader experience
• 1+ years of experience leading teams developing ML solutions using industry best practices, patterns, and automation
• Experience designing, implementing, and scaling complex data pipelines for ML models and evaluating their performance
• Experience leveraging interactive AI tooling to accelerate productivity, using capabilities beyond basic code completion
• Experience deploying scalable AI/ML solutions in a public cloud such as AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud, or Azure

Employment Status

At this time, Capital One will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization or offer any immigration‑related support for this position.

Salary and Benefits

• Cambridge, MA: $197,300 - $225,100
• McLean, VA: $197,300 - $225,100
• Richmond, VA: $179,400 - $204,700

Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial, and other benefits that support your total well‑being.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non‑discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.