Principal Associate, Data Scientist - People Strategy & Analytics

Capital One; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 161,800 - 184,600; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health benefits

Performance-based incentives

Inclusive workplace

Job summary

Capital One is seeking a Principal Associate, Data Scientist for its People Strategy & Analytics team in McLean, VA. This role focuses on leveraging data and analytics to improve talent decision-making by building machine learning models and leveraging open-source tools.

The ideal candidate will have a strong quantitative background, experience in data analytics, and the ability to work with cross-functional teams. A comprehensive benefits package complements a competitive salary ranging from $161,800 to $184,600.

Qualifications

• 5 years of experience in data analytics or equivalent with a quantitative degree.
• 1 year of experience with AWS.
• 3 years of experience with Python and SQL.
• Experience with AI/ML tools and ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Build natural language processing and machine learning models.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver solutions.
• Leverage technologies to analyze large datasets.

Skills

Natural language processing

Machine learning

Python

SQL

AWS

Data analytics

Data science solutions

Statistical analysis

Education

Bachelor's degree in a quantitative field

Master's or PhD in a quantitative field

Tools

Hugging Face

VectorDBs

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Snowflake

Job description

Principal Associate, Data Scientist – People Strategy & Analytics

Capital One’s People Strategy & Analytics team brings data, analytics, and insights to shape critical talent decisions and strategy. We work closely with HR partners and senior executives to automate real‑time data and improve talent decision‑making. The team is composed of data analysts, data scientists, business analysts, HR specialists, project managers, and industrial/organizational psychologists. The Data Scientist role sits at the leading edge of applying analytics to talent, combining AI, machine learning, and social science to build models that understand associate behavior, improve HR efficiency, and inform strategies to expand Capital One’s talent advantage.

Role Description

In this role, you will:

• Build natural language processing and machine learning models through all phases of development—from design through training, evaluation, validation, and implementation.
• Apply expertise in using open‑source large language models (LLMs) through prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), and evaluation metric frameworks for business‑specific applications.
• Partner with a cross‑functional team of data scientists, software engineers, business analysts, and product managers to deliver industry‑leading HR tools and AI‑powered products.
• Leverage a broad stack of technologies—Python, SQL, AWS, LangChain, Hugging Face Transformers, VectorDBs, PyTorch/TensorFlow, and more—to reveal insights hidden within large volumes of numeric and textual data.
• Flex your interpersonal skills to collaborate with internal stakeholders, translating complex data science work into tangible, aligned business outcomes.

Ideal Candidate

• Passionate about human capital and excited to add value to Capital One’s associates.
• Innovative—continually researching and evaluating emerging technologies and staying current on state‑of‑the‑art methods.
• Creative—bringing definition to big, undefined problems and asking questions to find answers.
• Technical—comfortable with open‑source languages, cloud computing platforms, and developing data science solutions.
• Statistically‑minded—experienced building, validating, and backtesting models; interpreting confusion matrices, ROC curves, and working with clustering, classification, sentiment analysis, time series, and deep learning.

Base Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or related) plus 5 years of data analytics experience.
• Master’s degree in a quantitative field plus 3 years of data analytics experience.
• PhD in a quantitative field plus 3 years of data analytics experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in a STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) plus 3 years of data analytics experience.
• At least 1 year of experience with AWS.
• At least 3 years’ experience in Python.
• At least 3 years’ experience with machine learning.
• At least 3 years’ experience with SQL.
• At least 2 years’ experience with relational databases such as Snowflake.
• At least 2 years’ experience with AI/ML tools and ecosystems such as Hugging Face, VectorDBs, or PyTorch/TensorFlow.

Salary & Benefits

Salary for McLean, VA: $161,800 – $184,600. Salary ranges vary by location. The role is also eligible for performance‑based incentive compensation, including cash bonus(es) and/or long‑term incentives. Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial, and other benefits that support your total well‑being.

Equal Opportunity

Capital One is an equal‑opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non‑discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug‑free workplace and will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the law.