Principal Machine Learning Engineer

AppGate; New York (NY); On-site; USD 220,000 - 265,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology company based in New York is seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to drive the design and development of an AI-driven fraud detection platform. The ideal candidate will architect large-scale ML systems, lead technical initiatives, and mentor teams. Candidates should have 5+ years of experience in ML/AI, particularly in fraud detection, with expertise in Python and various ML frameworks. This role also demands collaboration with cross-functional teams to ensure model performance and governance.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building ML or AI systems in production.
• Proven track record designing and maintaining ML pipelines at scale.
• Experience with big data and distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build scalable ML systems for fraud detection.
• Develop and maintain end-to-end ML pipelines: data ingestion to monitoring.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, security, and risk teams.

Skills

Python

ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn)

Supervised / unsupervised learning

Anomaly detection

Statistical modeling

Big data systems (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Flink)

Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes)

Collaboration and communication skills

Job description

We are seeking an exceptional Principal Machine Learning Engineer to lead the design and development of the next generation of our AI-driven fraud detection platform.

You will architect large-scale ML systems that detect and prevent fraud in real time combining deep machine learning expertise with scalable engineering and domain knowledge in financial systems.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role, shaping our fraud prevention roadmap and ensuring the platform evolves to meet emerging threat patterns through automation, data intelligence, and generative AI‑enhanced detection models.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build scalable ML systems for fraud detection, anomaly detection, and behavioral analysis.
• Develop and maintain end‑to‑end ML pipelines: data ingestion, feature engineering, model training, deployment, and monitoring.
• Leverage modern AI techniques, including generative AI, to improve fraud pattern discovery and model robustness.
• Design and implement real‑time decision systems, integrating with transaction or behavioral data streams.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, security, and risk teams to define data strategy and labeling frameworks.
• Lead experimentation on model explainability, drift detection, and adversarial robustness for fraud prevention use cases.
• Promote engineering excellence — automation, CI/CD, reproducibility, observability, and model governance.
• Mentor and guide ML and software engineers, fostering best practices and innovation.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building ML or AI systems in production; at least 2+ in fraud, risk, or anomaly detection domains.
• Proven track record designing and maintaining ML pipelines at scale.
• Expertise in Python, ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn), and CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or similar).
• Strong understanding of supervised / unsupervised learning, anomaly detection, and statistical modeling.
• Experience with big data and distributed systems (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Flink, or similar).
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerized deployments (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Strong collaboration, communication, and cross‑team leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience with fraud or financial crime detection, identity verification, or risk scoring systems.
• Domain expertise in banking, payments, or transaction monitoring
• Experience fine‑tuning or adapting generative AI / large language models for pattern generation or synthetic data augmentation.
• Familiarity with streaming analytics, graph ML, or time‑series anomaly detection.
• Knowledge of model governance, bias mitigation, and regulatory compliance in fraud contexts.
• Contributions to fraud detection research, open‑source, or AI publications.

What Success Looks Like

• Real‑time AI‑driven fraud prevention models with measurable reduction in false positives and detection latency.
• Scalable, automated ML pipelines enable faster experimentation and deployment.
• Cross‑functional collaboration delivering tangible business impact in fraud loss reduction.
• A culture of ML excellence, experimentation, and continuous learning across the team.

Location: New York City

Experience: 5+ years (Staff) or 8+ years (Principal) in ML or fraud detection systems

Compensation: 220-265k + bonus

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
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