Senior Applied AI Researcher, Foundations

Capital One; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 263,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Capital One is seeking an Applied Researcher to advance AI foundations, with a focus on building scalable LLMs and AI systems that enhance customer experiences. You will work across data science, software engineering, and product teams to translate research into production-ready capabilities.

You will lead research threads, optimize training and inference for large models, and contribute to open-source and cloud-based AI infrastructure. Capital One values innovation and practical impact.

Qualifications

• PhD or MS plus required years of applied research as stated in the job ad.
• Strong foundation in AI/ML methods and ability to apply them to production systems.
• Experience with large-scale model development and evaluation.

Responsibilities

• Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver AI-powered products that change how customers interact with money.
• Leverage PyTorch, AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, Lightning, and more to analyze large datasets.
• Build AI foundation models from design through training, evaluation, validation, and deployment.
• Translate research into production impact with ML engineering partners.
• Communicate complex ideas to business stakeholders.
• Lead cross-functional research threads bridging prototype models and production deployment.

Skills

AI foundations

Analytical thinking

Leadership

Problem solving

Communication

AI research

Education

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

MS in ECE/CS/AI/Math with 4+ years Applied Research

Tools

PyTorch

AWS Ultraclusters

Huggingface

Lightning

Cloud computing platforms

Job description

Capital One is seeking an Applied Researcher to advance AI foundations, with a focus on building scalable LLMs and AI systems that enhance customer experiences. You will work across data science, software engineering, and product teams to translate research into production-ready capabilities.

You will lead research threads, optimize training and inference for large models, and contribute to open-source and cloud-based AI infrastructure. Capital One values innovation and practical impact.