Senior Staff Applied Researcher

Capital One

. Partner with data scientists, software engineers, machine learning engineers, and product managers to deliver AI-powered products .

Posted 10/5/2026full-timeUnited StatesSenior💰 $350,000 - $435,700 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in building and delivering AI foundation models, with a strong focus on large deep learning models and applied research methodologies. Proven ability to translate complex AI concepts into actionable business strategies while mentoring and guiding teams in a collaborative environment.

Highest-signal resume keywords

PhD In Electrical EngineeringDeep Learning Model DevelopmentAI Methodologies ExpertiseApplied Research ExperienceLarge Language Model Training

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Deep LearningAI Foundation ModelsTraining OptimizationSelf-Supervised LearningRobustnessExplainabilityReinforcement Learning From Human FeedbackModel EvaluationData AnalysisResearch Agenda Ownership

Soft Skills

CollaborationMentoringCommunicationStrategic DirectionProblem-Solving

Tools & Technologies

PyTorchAWS UltraclustersHugging FaceLightningGPU ClustersOpen-Source ToolsCloud Computing PlatformsOptimization FrameworksData PreparationStreaming Environments

Industry Keywords

Applied ResearchNLPMachine LearningAI InnovationPublicationsModel TrainingGraph ModelsSequential ModelsRecommender SystemsAI Research Community

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSCloudPyTorch

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Partner with data scientists, software engineers, machine learning engineers, and product managers to deliver AI-powered products
Use PyTorch, AWS Ultraclusters, Hugging Face, Lightning, and other technologies to analyze large volumes of numeric and textual data
Build AI foundation models through design, training, evaluation, validation, and implementation
Conduct applied research to bring the latest AI developments into customer experiences
Translate complex research into tangible business goals
Define and evolve Capital One’s long-term research agenda
Identify emerging scientific opportunities and steer foundational investments in AI innovation
Drive strategic direction through collaboration with Applied Science, Engineering, and Product leaders
Guide and mentor applied scientists and their managers without direct people-management responsibility
Represent Capital One externally in the AI research community and collaborate with prominent faculty

Requirements

What you’ll need

PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related fields plus 6 years of experience in Applied Research, OR M.S. in those fields plus 8 years of experience in Applied Research
Deep understanding of the foundations of AI methodologies
Experience building large deep learning models for language, images, events, or graphs
Expertise in one or more of: training optimization, self-supervised learning, robustness, explainability, RLHF
Track record of delivering models at scale in training data and inference volumes
Experience delivering libraries, platform-level code, or solution-level code to existing products
Track record of high-quality machine-learning ideas, such as first-author publications or projects
Ability to own and pursue a research agenda and independently carry out long-running projects
Hands-on experience developing AI foundation models and solutions using open-source tools and cloud computing platforms
Preferred: PhD in relevant field
Preferred: LLM PhD focus on NLP or master’s with 10 years of industrial NLP research experience
Preferred: Experience training large language models from scratch, including 10B+ parameters and 500B+ tokens
Preferred: Publications at ACL, NAACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICML, or ICLR
Preferred: Experience with LLMs, large-scale model training, GPU clusters, optimization frameworks, fine-tuning, data preparation, graph/sequential models, recommender systems, streaming environments, and open-source frameworks
Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization

Benefits

Comp & perks

Performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI)
Comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive health, financial and other benefits supporting total well-being
Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization