Senior Machine Learning Engineer (Research Scientist) - Data Foundation & AI

Plaid2 days ago

Location

San Francisco

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 250,000 – 350,000

Level

Senior

Role

Machine Learning Engineer

Posted

Apr 17, 2026

Full TimeSenior

The role

Summary

Plaid is seeking a Senior Machine Learning Research Scientist to drive cutting-edge AI innovation in financial data. The role focuses on developing foundation models using Plaid's unique financial dataset, creating scalable ML infrastructure, and transforming financial technology through advanced machine learning research and production deployments.

What you'll do

Foundation Model Development: Build and lead research on Plaid's foundation model using unique financial network data, designing innovative model architectures and pretraining objectives.

Production ML Systems: Develop end-to-end production machine learning systems, including training pipelines, model serving infrastructure, feature engineering, and comprehensive monitoring.

Model Evaluation: Create robust evaluation frameworks to assess model performance across diverse tasks, ensuring comprehensive quality assessment beyond single-metric optimization.

Cross-Team Collaboration: Work collaboratively to amplify ML capabilities across multiple product teams and drive innovative financial technology solutions.

Research Translation: Transform experimental research and prototypes into production systems that directly serve real customers and enhance financial products.

What we look for

Technical

Machine Learning ExpertiseAdvanced knowledge of Transformers, Large Language Models (LLMs), representation learning, and large-scale model training techniques.

Software Engineering SkillsStrong Python programming skills and robust software engineering fundamentals with distributed training experience.

ML InfrastructureExperience in building production-ready machine learning systems, including model deployment, serving, and monitoring infrastructure.

Education

Advanced DegreePhD or Master's degree in Machine Learning, Computer Science, Statistics, or related technical field preferred.

Experience

Research ExperienceProven track record of applied ML research with demonstrable experience in shipping models to production environments.

Domain ExpertisePreferential consideration for candidates with fintech or financial data domain experience.

Skills

Required skills

TransformersAdvanced implementation and research experience with transformer architectures

PythonExpert-level programming and software engineering skills

Machine Learning InfrastructureComprehensive understanding of ML system design and deployment

Nice to have

Financial Data ModelingExperience working with complex financial datasets and domain-specific machine learning applications

Research PublicationsExternal publications or significant open-source contributions in machine learning

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 250,000 – 350,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Health Insurance

Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage

Equity Compensation

Competitive stock option package for senior roles

Professional Development

Budget for conferences, training, and continuous learning opportunities

Flexible Work Arrangement

Options for remote and hybrid work configurations

Interview process

1
Initial Screening — Resume review and initial recruiter conversation to assess background and experience
2
Technical Screen — Detailed technical interview focusing on machine learning expertise and research background
3
Research Presentation — Candidate presents previous research work or proposed approach to a complex ML challenge
4
Onsite Interviews — Multiple rounds of interviews with team members, including technical deep-dives and system design discussions
5
Final Leadership Interview — Conversation with senior leadership to assess cultural fit and long-term potential