Senior AI/ML Scientist

Vanguard; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanguard’s Center of AI and Intelligence seeks an experienced Senior Data Scientist to lead the design, build, governance, and deployment of AI/ML solutions for the Office of General Counsel and Finance. You will partner with risk, compliance, and technology teams to deliver trusted, scalable AI that improves knowledge-intensive processes.

The role emphasizes agentic AI, multi-asset data integration, and responsible AI governance, with a focus on measurable business outcomes and cross-functional

Qualifications

• Experience designing AI agents that reason, plan, and act across systems.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise LLM applications (RAG, tool use, orchestration).
• Strong NLP experience handling unstructured text and language-driven workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design and build advanced ML models that integrate multi-dimensional data into actionable insights.
• Develop enterprise knowledge systems enabling AI agents to retrieve, reason over, and operationalize knowledge.
• Partner with stakeholders to frame high-value problems solvable with Agentic AI, LLMs, and ML.

Skills

Agentic AI

LLMs

NLP

Python

Gradient Boosting

Production ML

Cross-functional

Communication

Education

MS in CS/ML

PhD in ML

Job description

Vanguard’s Center of AI and Intelligence is seeking an experienced Senior Data Scientist in support of the Office of General Counsel and Finance departments. The role will lead the design, build, governance, and deployment of AI/ML solutions that automate knowledge-intensive business processes by combining ML methods, LLMs, enterprise data platforms, and agentic workflows. The role needs to partner with business, risk, compliance, and technology stakeholders to transform operations through trusted, scalable, and governed AI solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes.

Responsibilities

Solve Business Problems with AI

• Design and build advanced ML models that integrate multi-dimensional data into insights and signals that drive critical business decisions.
• Design and build enterprise knowledge systems that integrate structured and unstructured data across multiple business platforms, enabling AI agents to retrieve, reason over, and operationalize trusted organizational knowledge.
• Partner with business stakeholders toidentify, frame, and prioritize high‑value problems that can be addressed using Agentic AI, LLMs, and ML.
• Define and implement business-centric evaluation frameworks that measure coverage, relevance, trustworthiness, explainability, and user adoption in addition to technical model performance.
• Focus onbusiness outcomes, not just model performance.

Design & Build Agentic AI Solutions

• Architect and developagentic AI systems that can reason, plan, and take actions across tools, workflows, and data sources.
• Design multi‑agent and tool‑augmented LLM solutions to automate complex, multi‑step processes.
• Ensure solutions arereliable, explainable, and governed for enterprise use.

Scalable & Responsible AI

• Collaborate with engineering teams to deploy AI solutions withscalability, security, and performance in mind.
• Implement evaluation, monitoring, and guardrails for LLM and agentic systems, including bias, drift, and failure modes.
• Align solutions with enterprise risk management, compliance, and responsible AI standards.

Thought Leadership & Collaboration

• Act as atrusted AI advisor, helping teams understand where Agentic AI and LLMs add value—and where they do not.
• Contribute to AI best practices, reusable patterns, and strategic direction.
• Mentor peers and teammates on applied AI and business‑driven problem solving.

Qualifications

• Agentic AI: Experience designing AI agents that reason, plan, and act across systems.
• Large Language Models (LLMs): Hands‑on experience building enterprise LLM applications (e.g., RAG, tool use, orchestration, evaluation).
• Natural Language Processing (NLP): Strong experience working with unstructured text and language‑driven workflows.
• ML: Hands on experience with Gradient Boosting methods, familiar with preeminent hyper-parameter tuning and interpretability options.
• MS or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related quantitative field.
• 3+ years delivering AI/ML solutions in production environments.
• 5+ years of hands‑on Python experience; experience with distributed data processing is a plus.
• 0Strong ability tosolve business problems using AI, not just build models.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Experience working in cross‑functional, enterprise environments.

Special Factors

Sponsorship

Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position.

About Vanguard

At Vanguard, we don't just have a mission—we're on a mission. To work for the long-term financial wellbeing of our clients. To lead through product and services that transform our clients' lives. To learn and develop our skills as individuals and as a team. From Malvern to Melbourne, our mission drives us forward and inspires us to be our best.

How We Work

Vanguard has implemented a hybrid working model for the majority of our crew members, designed to capture the benefits of enhanced flexibility while enabling in-person learning, collaboration, and connection. We believe our mission-driven and highly collaborative culture is a critical enabler to support long-term client outcomes and enrich the employee experience.