Blue Shield Of California

Data Scientist, Principal

Blue Shield Of California$130K — $160K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's in computer science, quantitative discipline, or equivalent experience
  • 8 years of software development and applied AI/ML experience; 5 years with a Master's or PhD with relevant experience
  • Proven ability to rapidly build and ship software products, beyond just developing models
  • Strong software engineering skills, particularly in Python for 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 frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow
  • Experience developing applications with generative AI models and prompt engineering

Responsibilities

  • Lead development and deployment of applications using generative AI models
  • Design and create scalable applications including LLMs and AI agents
  • Rapidly prototype new features and iterate based on evaluations
  • Architect and develop new products and features from conception to launch
  • Collaborate with researchers and product managers to implement AI research in products
  • Build APIs and data retrieval pipelines for AI capabilities
  • Optimize the performance and reliability of deployed AI applications
  • Champion best practices in generative AI application development
  • Evaluate and improve model performance, ensuring responsible AI implementation
  • Mentor team members and cultivate a high-performing environment

Benefits

  • Focus on personal and professional development opportunities
  • Supportive leadership model promoting creative and critical thinking
  • Encouragement of continuous learning and team performance
  • Hybrid work model allowing flexibility with in-office collaboration
  • Engagement in meaningful work that accelerates business outcomes through AI and machine learning
Full Job Description
Job Description

Your Role

The AI & Machine Learning team works in partnership across the enterprise to accelerate business outcomes by applying AI, machine learning, and generative AI to build intelligent products that create "intelligence at scale." Reporting to the Director, AI & Machine Learning, the Data Scientist, Principal will lead the development and deployment of novel applications that leverage generative AI models. This role focuses on rapidly developing new features and working across partner teams to deliver solutions and maximize impact, translating cutting-edge AI research into real-world products and taking features from 0 to 1. You will design, build, and ship production-grade AI products including LLM-powered applications, AI agents and copilots, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and search, and AI-enabled automation embedded directly into customer-facing applications and enterprise workflows such as claims, payment integrity, clinical insights, and member experience. You will set the technical direction for how AI is applied across the organization.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow - personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Responsibilities

Your Work

In this role, you will:
  • Lead the development and deployment of novel applications that leverage generative AI models, setting the technical direction for AI and machine learning across the organization
  • Design and develop scalable applications leveraging generative AI models including LLM applications, copilots, agents, and RAG and search, embedded in customer-facing products and enterprise workflows
  • Rapidly prototype new features and iterate based on evaluation results
  • Lead the architecture and development of new products and features from 0 to 1
  • Collaborate with researchers and product managers to translate cutting-edge AI research into tangible product features
  • Build the APIs, services, and data and retrieval pipelines that expose AI capabilities to applications
  • Optimize software performance and ensure the reliability of deployed applications
  • Champion best practices for building and deploying generative AI applications
  • Evaluate model performance, analyze results, and implement improvements, ensuring responsible and compliant AI
  • Mentor and develop team members, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment


Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, a quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical experience
  • 8 years of experience in software development and applied AI/ML with a Bachelor's degree; or 5 years with a Master's; or a PhD with relevant experience
  • Proven track record of building and shipping software products rapidly-not just 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-and working with machine learning frameworks and libraries
  • Hands-on experience with deep learning and LLM application frameworks, including PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, and LangGraph
  • Hands-on experience building applications that leverage generative AI models, including prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
  • Experience with generative AI research or applications preferred
  • Experience designing agent-based systems and orchestration frameworks preferred
  • Experience with cloud computing platforms and infrastructure (e.g., Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS), and scalable data processing with SQL or Spark preferred
  • Solid MLOps and LLMOps practices, including CI/CD, monitoring, and model lifecycle management preferred
  • Experience rapidly developing and shipping software in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment, adapting to changing priorities preferred
  • Understanding of responsible AI and governance for regulated or healthcare environments preferred


Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

#LI-CM1

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

About Blue Shield Of California

Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health plan provider that has been providing Californians with access to high-quality healthcare for over 80 years. The company offers a range of health insurance products and services to individuals, families, and employers. Blue Shield of California is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its members and the communities it serves. The company is also committed to sustainability and has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce its environmental impact.
Learn more about Blue Shield Of California
Size
7,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1981

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