Applied AI Engineer, Vice President

About this role

BlackRock is one of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory and risk management solutions, including Aladdin our investment & risk management technology. Aladdin is a comprehensive technology platform used by BlackRock and delivered to our clients to unify the investment management process across public and private markets. Aladdin integrates risk, investment, and client management processes through a common data language, enabling scale, insights, and business transformation. At BlackRock the Aladdin team is made up of the Aladdin Client Business, Aladdin Wealth Tech, Aladdin Product, Aladdin Data, and Aladdin Engineering.

Join our AI Engineering team as a part of Aladdin Engineering and be at the forefront of financial technology innovation. Aladdin Engineering is the team that designs, builds and runs Aladdin. Within Aladdin Engineering there are multiple engineering teams focused on building the different products and platform services for Aladdin.  As a part of the AI Engineering team, you will play a crucial role in shaping the AI ecosystem across the firm and the Aladdin application ecosystem. Our goal is to build and maintain a leading-edge AI platform for all users of Aladdin, notably investors, operations teams and data scientists. We are focused on evolving our AI platform and building dynamic experiences that accelerate firm-wide productivity, client experience, and alpha generation.

We are looking for highly motivated and determined engineers to set and drive a clear AI Software Strategy delivering cohesive AI experiences across the firm. At BlackRock, you will have the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in the industry, leveraging your insights and expertise to advance AI Engineering. We value diversity and believe it is the key to our success, ensuring that your unique skills, curiosity, and passion are nurtured. Join us and grow both technically and personally, while working at one of the most recognized financial companies in the world while being part of an AI software development team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Design and build the next generation of the world's best investment management technology platform, focusing on managing various investment lifecycle processes and investment research.

• Integrate new AI services across the platform and Aladdin application ecosystem.

• Refine business and functional requirements and translate them into scalable technical designs.

• Collaborate with product engineering teams to implement comprehensive AI/ML-based solutions from start to finish.

• Apply quality software engineering practices throughout the software development lifecycle.

• Optimize the software delivery and workflow of the team.

• Work with team members in a multi-office, multi-country environment.

Requirements:

• B.S./M.S. degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related subject area with 4+ years of proven experience, or equivalent experience

• Proficiency and hands-on experience in object-oriented programming with Java and Python.

• Proficiency in designing and building scalable APIs and Microservices.

• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure (Preferred), AWS, or GCP.

• Ability to reverse engineering existing applications.

• Grit in the face of technical obstacles

• Experience working in Agile development teams with excellent collaboration skills.

Nice to have:

• Understanding of prompt engineering and prompt tuning.

• Experience building applications using LLM frameworks such as LangChain, Llama Index, and Semantic Kernel.

• Experience with vector databases like Faiss or Chroma

• Knowledge of ML model evaluation to ensure consistent performance with changing data.

• Familiarity with MLOps and ML model lifecycle pipelines.

• Experience with ML model training and fine-tuning.

• Familiarity with event-driven architecture and messaging frameworks like Kafka.

• Experience with NoSQL datastores like Cassandra

• Knowledge of containerization and orchestration technologies.

For New York City only: The salary range for this position is $157,500 - $214,500. 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.