Team Lead Data Scientist, AI Labs, Vice President

AI Labs Overview: Since our founding over 30 years ago, BlackRock has brought together great minds to drive innovation. From the beginning, we have been demonstrating technology for insight and efficiency to make our business better and to help clients realize the objectives they desire. At BlackRock, there is a rich problem space for data scientists and engineers across all areas of the business including investments, sales, marketing, operations, product, UX, etc. and the potential to have large scale impact. In 2018, BlackRock accelerated innovation and technology again with additional investment in artificial intelligence and data science and all the potential they represent. AI Labs was formed to act as a central hub with a firm-wide remit to solve strategic business challenges for the firm by bringing to bear our expertise in data science, machine learning, generative AI, optimization, stochastic control and statistics. Our mission is to combine human and machine intelligence to revolutionize asset management.

We are a hybrid research and product team and have a responsibility to drive towards commercial impact in the form of alpha generation, operational efficiencies, and cost reduction. Building on the success of systematic investment teams with a history of demonstrating machine learning at BlackRock to create alpha, the goal is to apply these same techniques throughout the business. The team has grown to 30+ data scientists and data engineers. Working collaboratively, the team is multi-disciplinary with the following skills and capabilities: machine learning, statistical modeling, signal detection, natural language processing, data visualization, network/graph modeling, ETL, data pipelines, data architecture, communication, product management and strategy. We work with data from a wide variety of sources including text, news feeds, financial reports, time series transactions, user behavior logs, and real-time data.

AI Labs has offices in New York, Palo Alto, Edinburgh, Atlanta and Seattle. The team has several Stanford professors as senior advisors with world-class expertise in machine learning, statistics, optimization and stochastic control. These advisors include AI Labs co-head Stephen Boyd (Samsung Professor of Engineering at Stanford), Emmanuel Candes, Trevor Hastie, and Mykel Kochenderfer who dedicate time in our Palo Alto office and provide advice and guidance for all members of the global team. We are looking for candidates with unique backgrounds and diverse skill sets with fresh perspectives to accelerate and amplify our efforts to make an impact at BlackRock. AI Labs aims to bring best of class technologies, analytics, and insights to the entirety of the firm and to our clients.

Job Description: As a data scientist, you will collaborate with a distributed team of outstanding academics, engineers, and investment professionals to develop methodologies for products solving a corporate-wide set of client, investor, and operational problems. Products developed often use multiple subject areas, including statistics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and optimization, and combine original methods with pioneering solutions available in industry and academia. You will be responsible for the entire research lifecycle, from initial research and prototyping, to iterating on the system methodology, to detailing the final product and clearing internal review processes.

Responsibilities:

• Be accountable for the delivery of major projects and key initiatives for AI Labs.
• Work with stakeholders to translate business needs into well-scoped technical projects.
• Work with large and complex datasets to evaluate technical methodologies.
• Rapidly prototype technical solutions and implement groundbreaking tools from optimization and machine learning.
• Work with engineers and stakeholders to build production-grade solutions that are reliable, scalable, and operate in compliance with firm-wide processes.
• Produce technical white papers and make clear technical presentations to senior management.

Qualifications:

• Either a PhD in a quantitative subject area (computer science, mathematics, statistics, economics, physics, engineering, or related field) with 3+ years of professional experience or an MS degree in a quantitative field plus 5+ years of professional experience in optimization, machine learning, artificial intelligence, statistics, or other aspects of the data science process.
• Strong familiarity with programming in Python.
• Strong theoretical background in and practical experience using optimization, statistical techniques, and AI/ML, preferably shown through academic publications or open-source code.
• Ability to work within a team environment, and to collaborate and communicate across cross-functional groups including business and technology experts.
• Experience with the analysis or application of data in finance, economics, or related fields is a plus.
• Experience with machine learning libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, JAX is a plus.
• Experience applying generative AI solutions (via open source tools or through Azure, Amazon Bedrock, Nvidia etc.) is a plus.
• Experience with cloud technologies (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform) is a plus.

Our benefits: To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of employee benefits including: retirement investment and tools designed to help you in building a sound financial future; access to education reimbursement; comprehensive resources to support your physical health and emotional well-being; family support programs; 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.

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics at law.