Senior Director – AI Engineering

FICO

. Lead, develop, and coach a high-performing engineering team by fostering a culture of aligned autonomy, clear communication, and continuous learning — while actively recruiting top talent and setting clear direction for hiring strategies.

Posted 5/19/2026full-timeRemote • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $192,500 - $302,500 per yearWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Lead, develop, and coach a high-performing engineering team by fostering a culture of aligned autonomy, clear communication, and continuous learning — while actively recruiting top talent and setting clear direction for hiring strategies.
Partner with stakeholders and product managers to understand business priorities and translate them into actionable engineering roadmaps that harness advanced AI capabilities for meaningful outcomes.
Drive the design and implementation of AI solutions — including LLM-powered decision automation, fraud detection, and process optimization — to strengthen FICO's position as a market leader.
Define best practices for model evaluation, governance, and monitoring to ensure AI systems remain accurate, reliable, secure, and compliant at scale.
Build and maintain systems for continuous model monitoring, A/B testing, backtesting, and drift detection to keep deployed models performing at their best over time.
Collaborate closely with UX designers, product teams, and engineering leaders to align AI capabilities across the platform and deliver a cohesive user experience.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Proven experience building and leading engineering teams to deliver advanced AI solutions, with deep expertise in Large Language Models and their application to decision automation, fraud detection, and process optimization.
A track record of effective leadership, coaching, and mentoring that fosters innovation, accountability, and a high-performance culture in dynamic, fast-paced environments.
Hands-on experience with model fine-tuning, in-context learning, and custom evaluation frameworks, alongside a strong command of backtesting, A/B testing, and drift detection methodologies to ensure reliable model performance in production.
Solid understanding of model monitoring, governance, and compliance practices, with a commitment to responsible AI and the ability to architect scalable, secure, AI and data-driven systems that meet rigorous production standards.
Familiarity with compliance and regulatory requirements in AI-driven decisioning environments, and a working knowledge of modern software engineering practices and design patterns.
Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to work across departments and align engineering efforts to broader business goals.
Thought leadership in AI and machine learning — through publications, patents, or open-source contributions — is a plus.
10–15 years of industry experience in software, machine learning, or data engineering, with a demonstrated history of leading complex, large-scale projects and applying LLMs to solve real-world challenges.
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI, or a related field.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Highly competitive compensation, benefits and rewards programs that encourage you to bring your best every day and be recognized for doing so.
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.
An engaging, people-first work environment offering work/life balance, employee resource groups, and social events to promote interaction and camaraderie.

ATS Keywords

✓ Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools

Large Language Modelsdecision automationfraud detectionprocess optimizationmodel fine-tuningin-context learningcustom evaluation frameworksA/B testingbacktestingdrift detection

Soft Skills

leadershipcoachingmentoringinnovationaccountabilityhigh-performance culturecross-functional collaborationcommunicationteam buildingstakeholder engagement

Certifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer ScienceMaster's degree in Data ScienceMaster's degree in AI