Senior/ Lead – Backend Engineer – AI Engineering Full Time

The Opportunity

As a Senior or Lead Backend Engineer on our Applied AI team, you will be at the forefront of integrating robust data engineering with next-generation AI capabilities. You will design, build, and maintain scalable backend systems and data pipelines that power critical functions across our platform — from fraud investigation and decision automation to process optimization. In this role, you will champion high data quality, system reliability, and stringent governance across all AI-driven initiatives, making a lasting impact on FICO’s platform. This is an opportunity to collaborate with a high-caliber team and drive meaningful innovation through your deep expertise in backend engineering and applied AI.

What You’ll Contribute

• Design and deploy scalable backend systems and data pipelines that seamlessly integrate applied AI capabilities into FICO’s analytics and decision management platform.
• Build high-quality solutions for data ingestion, transformation, and storage, ensuring reliable, high-throughput data flow for real-time analytics.
• Design and implement LLM-powered solutions for decision automation, fraud investigation, and process automation within FICO’s platform.
• Develop sophisticated prompting strategies and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures tailored to high-stakes, mission-critical applications.
• Partner with data scientists, ML engineers, and product teams to develop microservices and APIs that enable intelligent, data-driven decision-making.
• Optimize distributed architectures and implement real-time processing frameworks to support high-volume, low-latency workloads.
• Implement advanced monitoring, testing, and performance optimization techniques to ensure system reliability, security, and scalability.
• Define and evolve architectural patterns that support FICO’s analytics and decisioning solutions at scale.
• Lead and mentor engineering team members, promoting best practices in software development, data engineering, AI integration, and systems design.

What We’re Seeking

• Experience: 5+ years of experience in backend or data engineering, with a demonstrated track record of delivering complex, large-scale production systems.
• Technical Proficiency: Strong coding skills in Python, Go, Java, or equivalent languages, with a commitment to clean, maintainable, and well-tested code.
• Big Data & Distributed Systems: Hands-on experience with big data frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Kafka, Hadoop) and a strong understanding of both relational and NoSQL databases.
• Cloud & Containerization: Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and container orchestration tools such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Production-Quality Engineering: Proven ability to design, build, and maintain scalable, production-grade backend systems with a focus on reliability and performance.
• Testing & Optimization: Solid experience with testing frameworks (including A/B testing), performance optimization, and production monitoring/observability practices.
• AI/ML Integration: Demonstrated experience integrating AI/ML solutions into production systems, including working with Large Language Models (LLMs) and related techniques.
• RAG & Vector Databases: Experience with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures and familiarity with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector) is strongly preferred.
• Communication & Leadership: Strong problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to mentor engineers, influence technical direction, and collaborate effectively across disciplines.
• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. An advanced degree is a plus but not required.

About FICO

FICO is a leading analytics and decision management company that empowers businesses and individuals around the world with data-driven insights. Known for pioneering the FICO® Score, a standard in consumer credit risk assessment, FICO is also a prominent provider of software as a service to financial institutions where it combines advanced analytics, machine learning, and sophisticated algorithms to drive smarter, faster decisions across industries. From financial services to retail, insurance, and healthcare, FICO’s innovative solutions help organizations make precise decisions, reduce risk, and enhance customer experiences. With a strong commitment to ethical use of AI and data, FICO is dedicated to improving financial access and inclusivity, fostering trust, and driving growth for a digitally evolving world.