Senior/Lead AI Backend Data Engineer

Role Description

As a Senior or Lead Backend Engineer on our Applied AI team, you will be at the forefront of integrating robust data engineering with next-generation AI capabilities. You will design, build, and maintain scalable backend systems and data pipelines that power critical functions across our platform — from fraud investigation and decision automation to process optimization. In this role, you will champion high data quality, system reliability, and stringent governance across all AI-driven initiatives, making a lasting impact on FICO's platform.

This is an opportunity to collaborate with a high-caliber team and drive meaningful innovation through your deep expertise in backend engineering and applied AI.

What You'll Contribute

• Design and deploy scalable backend systems and data pipelines that seamlessly integrate applied AI capabilities into FICO's analytics and decision management platform.
• Build high-quality solutions for data ingestion, transformation, and storage, ensuring reliable, high-throughput data flow for real-time analytics.
• Design and implement LLM-powered solutions for decision automation, fraud investigation, and process automation within FICO's platform.
• Develop sophisticated prompting strategies and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures tailored to high-stakes, mission-critical applications.
• Partner with data scientists, ML engineers, and product teams to develop microservices and APIs that enable intelligent, data-driven decision-making.
• Optimize distributed architectures and implement real-time processing frameworks to support high-volume, low-latency workloads.
• Implement advanced monitoring, testing, and performance optimization techniques to ensure system reliability, security, and scalability.
• Define and evolve architectural patterns that support FICO's analytics and decisioning solutions at scale.
• Lead and mentor engineering team members, promoting best practices in software development, data engineering, AI integration, and systems design.

Qualifications

• In-depth experience in backend or data engineering, with a demonstrated track record of delivering complex, large-scale production systems.
• Strong coding skills in Python, Go, Java, or equivalent languages, with a commitment to clean, maintainable, and well-tested code.
• Hands-on experience with big data frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Kafka, Hadoop) and a strong understanding of both relational and NoSQL databases.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and container orchestration tools such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Proven ability to design, build, and maintain scalable, production-grade backend systems with a focus on reliability and performance.
• Solid experience with testing frameworks (including A/B testing), performance optimization, and production monitoring/observability practices.
• Demonstrated experience integrating AI/ML solutions into production systems, including working with Large Language Models (LLMs) and related techniques.
• Experience with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures and familiarity with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector) is strongly preferred.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to mentor engineers, influence technical direction, and collaborate effectively across disciplines.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. An advanced degree is a plus but not required.

Benefits

• An inclusive culture strongly reflecting our core values: Act Like an Owner, Delight Our Customers and Earn the Respect of Others.
• The opportunity to make an impact and develop professionally by leveraging your unique strengths and participating in valuable learning experiences.
• Highly competitive compensation, benefits and rewards programs that encourage you to bring your best every day and be recognized for doing so.
• An engaging, people-first work environment offering work/life balance, employee resource groups, and social events to promote interaction and camaraderie.
• The targeted base pay range for this role is: $140,000 to $220,000 with this range reflecting differences in candidate knowledge, skills and experience.