Data Scientist, Principal - AI Product Engineering
Blue Shield of California4 days ago
Oakland, CA, USAStaff+
Responsibilities
- Lead the development and deployment of generative AI applications and set technical direction for AI and machine learning across the organization.
- Design and build scalable LLM applications, copilots, agents, RAG and search features, and AI-enabled automation.
- Architect and develop new products and features from 0 to 1, rapidly prototype them, and iterate based on evaluation results.
- Build APIs, backend services, and data and retrieval pipelines that expose AI capabilities to applications.
- Collaborate with researchers and product managers to translate AI research into tangible product features.
- Optimize software performance and ensure the reliability of deployed applications.
- Champion best practices for building and deploying generative AI applications, including responsible and compliant AI.
- Evaluate model performance, analyze results, and implement improvements.
- Mentor and develop team members while fostering a collaborative, high-performing environment.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, a quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical experience; a master’s degree or PhD is preferred.
- 10 years of relevant experience in data science, machine learning, applied AI/ML, software engineering, or advanced analytics.
- Advanced degrees in a relevant field may substitute for a portion of the required experience.
- Proven experience building and rapidly shipping software products rather than only developing models or analyses.
- Strong software engineering skills and proficiency in Python, including building APIs and backend services.
- Experience leading ML design and optimizing ML infrastructure, model deployment, evaluation, and data processing.
- Hands-on experience with deep learning and LLM application frameworks including PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, and LangGraph.
- Hands-on experience building generative AI applications, including prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation.
- Experience with cloud platforms and scalable data processing using SQL or Spark is preferred.
- Experience with generative AI research or applications, agent-based systems, orchestration frameworks, MLOps and LLMOps practices, and model lifecycle management is preferred.
- Experience rapidly developing and shipping software in customer-facing environments is preferred.
- Understanding of responsible AI and governance in regulated or healthcare environments is preferred.
Benefits
- Hybrid workplace model requiring most teams to work in the office two days each week.
- Employees living more than 50 miles from an office will determine in-office expectations with their manager based on business needs.
Categories
About Blue Shield of California
Blue Shield of California is a nonprofit, tax-paying health plan that sells medical, dental, and vision insurance to individuals, employers, and Medicare/Medi-Cal beneficiaries across California. An independent member of the Blue Shield Association, it also administers government program plans. Founded in 1939 and headquartered in Oakland, the company serves nearly 6 million members statewide.