AI Product Engineer - Aladdin Engineering, Associate

About this role

Are you interested in building innovative technology that shapes financial markets? Do you like working at the speed of a startup but want to solve some of the world’s most sophisticated problems? Do you want to work with, and learn from, hands-on leaders in technology and finance?

At BlackRock, we are looking for Software Engineers who like to innovate and solve sophisticated problems. We recognize that strength comes from diversity, and will embrace your unique skills, curiosity, and passion while giving you the opportunity to grow technically and as an individual.

We invest and protect over $9 trillion (USD) of assets and have an extraordinary responsibility to our clients all over the world. Our technology empowers millions of investors to save for retirement, pay for college, buy a home and improve their financial well-being.

Being a technologist at BlackRock means you get the best of both worlds: working for one of the most sophisticated financial companies and also being part of a software development team responsible for next generation technology and solutions.

This role will be responsible for all aspects of software development, testing and ensuring compatibility with enterprise and solutions architecture by harnessing modern development technologies.

You will have the chance to define and develop new capabilities and engage with multiple development teams and partners across the Aladdin Product Group.

You are: 

• Curious and eager to learn new things, with a healthy disrespect for the status quo
• Willing to embrace work outside of your comfort zone, and open to guidance from others; you make mistakes, but learn from them
• Passionate about technology, with personal ownership for the work you do
• Data-focused, with an eye for the details that matter to address the problem

We are:

• Passionate about building reliable software and scaling technology to meet the needs of tomorrow
• Building solutions for both BlackRock and over 100 organizations who use our technology
• Developing with Java, Python, Cassandra, Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes and other technologies
• Committed to open source and giving back to the community
• Writing testable software every day with a focus on incremental innovation

The team is looking for an ambitious hands-on software developer to work on an exciting strategic product to expand our Aladdin Platform. Working with a distributed team, you will be part of an outstanding group of engineers setting and evolving the technology direction for our internal developer systems and SDLC.

As a key member of our engineering team, you will be encouraged to bring your ideas forward to help craft the technical solutions. You will need to have excellent interpersonal skills and be comfortable communicating your ideas to inquisitive senior leaders.

This position is for an AI Platform/Product Engineer within the Aladdin Risk and Investment Oversight team and will utilize industry-standard technologies, such as Spring, GIT/ADO, Solr, Cassandra and more. Aladdin Risk and Investment Oversight is a team responsible for technology utilized by Researchers, Portfolio Managers, Traders, Risk Managers, and Investment Operations.

More specifically the role is in the team that works alongside Aladdin Engineering and Aladdin Business groups, building AI-powered technology services and solutions with the objective of exploring, developing, testing, deploying, enhancing, and maintaining machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities integrated with the Aladdin Investment Management Platform. The role will also afford the chance to learn about the financial industry, specifically the sophisticated world of risk management, valuations, and operations.

Responsibilities include:

• Help design and build the next generation of world’s best investment management technology platform for managing various Investment lifecycle processes and investment research
• Collaborate with team members in a multi-office, multi-country environment.
• Understand and refine business and functional requirements and convert them into scalable technical design.
• Apply validated quality software engineering practices through all phases of development
• Ensure resilience and stability through quality code reviews, unit, regression and user acceptance testing, dev ops and level two production support

Qualifications:

• B.S. / M.S. degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related subject area with 4 - 7 years of proven experience
• Demonstrable experience in working with Generative AI models, with a deep understanding of their capabilities, prompting strategies, model performance, and inherent limitations
• Strong statistical foundation, with in-depth knowledge of supervised, unsupervised, and semi-supervised machine learning models, with a particular focus on NLP/NLU
• Good hands-on object-oriented programming experience in Java, JavaScript and Python
• Experience designing and building APIs and Microservices
• Strong experience with Open-Source technology stack (Spring, Hibernate, Apache, JBoss, Tomcat, Ant, Maven, Jenkins, JUnit, etc.)
• Experience with relational database and NoSQL Database (e.g. Apache Cassandra)
• Experience of working in Agile Development Team

Nice to have:

• Experience with cloud native development (Kubernetes, Docker) and Cloud Platform like Microsoft Azure
• Open source publish-subscribe frameworks like Apache Kafka
• Distributing Computing Technologies like Apache Ignite

For New York, NY Only the salary range for this position is USD$132,500.00 - USD$162,000.00 . Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus, and benefits including heath care, leave benefits, and retirement benefits. BlackRock operates a pay-for-performance compensation philosophy and your total compensation may vary based on role, location, and firm, department and individual performance.

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

For additional information on BlackRock, please visit @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, and other statuses protected by law.

BlackRock will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of the law, including any applicable fair chance law.