Principal Associate, Data Science - AI Foundations

Overview

Principal Associate, Data Science - AI Foundations

Data is at the center of everything we do. As a startup, we disrupted the credit card industry by individually personalizing every credit card offer using statistical modeling and the relational database, cutting edge technology in 1988! Fast-forward a few years, and this little innovation and our passion for data has skyrocketed us to a Fortune 200 company and a leader in the world of data-driven decision-making.

As a Data Scientist at Capital One, you’ll be part of a team that’s leading the next wave of disruption at a whole new scale, using the latest in computing and machine learning technologies and operating across billions of customer records to unlock the big opportunities that help everyday people save money, time and agony in their financial lives.

Team Description:

The GenAI Powered Digital Assistant Team in AI Foundations engage in active research in GenAI powered conversational capabilities and build scalable futuristics solutions to enhance our customers digital experience and real time support through digital assistance.  You will be the driving force to lead research, innovate and develop applications  with  emerging AI/ML technologies. Our areas of research include advanced LLM powered digital Assistant, multi-agentic workflow,  domain specific conversational large language model tuning and inference optimization. 

In this role, you will:

• Partner with a cross-functional team of data scientists, software engineers, machine learning engineers and product managers to deliver AI powered products that change how developers write software.

• Lead cutting-edge research and development in Generative AI (GenAI) to enhance conversational AI capabilities and build scalable, futuristic digital assistant solutions.

• Fine-tune advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) for domain-specific conversational applications, inference optimization, and multi-agentic workflows.

• Leverage a broad stack of technologies — Python, AWS, Pyspark, LangChain, LangGraph, HuggingFace Transformers, vLLM and VectorDBs, and more

• Be the expert in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to harness the power of Large Language Models (LLMs), adapt and finetune them for business specific applications and features.

• Drive innovation by designing, training, evaluating, and deploying state-of-the-art NLP models, partnering with engineering teams to integrate them into scalable and resilient production systems.

• Translate complex AI/ML research into tangible business outcomes, improving customer experience through real-time, intelligent digital assistance.

The Ideal Candidate is:

• Innovative.  You are deeply engaged in AI/ML research and stay ahead of the curve on emerging GenAI advancements. You seek out opportunities to apply state-of-the-art methods to real-world problems..

• Creative. You excel at defining and solving complex, ambiguous problems, constantly questioning and pushing boundaries to develop novel solutions

• A leader. You challenge conventional thinking, drive breakthroughs in conversational AI, and mentor teams to achieve innovation excellence

• Technical. You have hands-on experience in AI/ML development, working with open-source tools, cloud computing platforms, and DevOps technologies. You are proficient in NLP and LLM tuning.

• Influential. You are passionate about GenAI and can bring together cross-functional teams to drive adoption and innovation. You communicate complex ideas clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.

Basic Qualifications:

• Currently has, or is in the process of obtaining one of the following with an expectation that the required degree will be obtained on or before the scheduled start date :

  • A Bachelor's Degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field) plus 5 years of experience performing data analytics

  • A Master's Degree in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field)  or an MBA with a quantitative concentration plus 3 years of experience performing data analytics

  • A PhD in a quantitative field (Statistics, Economics, Operations Research, Analytics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related quantitative field)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree in “STEM” field (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) plus 3 years of experience in data analytics, or PhD in “STEM” field (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics)

• At least 1 year of experience working with AWS

• At least 3 years’ experience in Python, Scala, or R

• At least 3 years’ experience with machine learning

• At least 3 years’ experience with SQL

Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.

McLean, VA: $161,800 - $184,600 for Princ Associate, Data Science

Cambridge, MA: $161,800 - $184,600 for Princ Associate, Data Science

New York, NY: $176,500 - $201,400 for Princ Associate, Data Science

San Jose, CA: $176,500 - $201,400 for Princ Associate, Data Science

Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter.

This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.

Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website . Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.

This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.

No agencies please. 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. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City’s Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.

If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at Show phone number or via email at View email address on capitalonecareers.com . All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to View email address on capitalonecareers.com

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Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).