Lead/Senior Backend Engineer - Distributed Systems/API - Applied AI

FICO (NYSE: FICO) is a leading global analytics software company, helping businesses in 100+ countries make better decisions. Join our world-class team today and fulfill your career potential!

The Opportunity

"As a Lead/Senior Backend Engineer on our Applied AI team, you will lead the design and implementation of scalable, robust, backend services and distributed systems that power advanced AI capabilities. Your work will drive critical functionalities across FICO’s platform, from fraud investigation and decision management to process flow automation and customer engagement. This role requires a forward-thinking mindset and a strong commitment to system reliability and robust governance, placing you at the core of FICO’s innovative, high-impact AI initiatives" - VP, AI Engineering 

What You’ll Contribute

• You’ll play a key role in building a robust, scalable platform with distributed backend systems and APIs that power AI-enabled features across FICO’s products.

• Build and scale backend services and APIs that support high-throughput model inference and real-time AI features in production.

• Develop production-grade LLM-powered systems with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Agentic Architectures to power next-generation AI features.

• Collaborate with researchers, ML engineers, and product teams to design and implement microservices and APIs that enable secure, low-latency access to AI capabilities.

• Implement robust guardrails, governance mechanisms, and observability features to maintain safe, auditable, and compliant use of generative AI systems, while proactively addressing system bottlenecks and failures.

• Define and monitor key quality metrics across AI models and systems to drive continuous improvement in performance, reliability, and user impact.

• Mentor engineering teams, driving best practices in backend architecture, distributed system design, and scalable service development. 

​What We’re Seeking

• Extensive experience building large scale backend services in production, with a proven track record of leading and delivering complex, large-scale distributed systems.

• Strong coding skills in Python, Go, Java, or similar languages.

• Deep experience building and maintaining scalable, fault-tolerant backend systems with high availability and low latency.

• Proficient in designing APIs and working with relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, DynamoDB). 

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and container orchestration tools like Docker and Kubernetes.

• Good experience with system monitoring, tracing, and performance optimization tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog).

• Experience in integrating AI/ML solutions, with familiarity in Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and vector databases preferred.

• Exceptional problem-solving skills with the ability to mentor others and work cross-functionally with engineering, research, and product teams.

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field, an advanced degree preferred. 

Our Offer to You

• An inclusive culture strongly reflecting our core values:  Act Like an Owner, Delight Our Customers and Earn the Respect of Others.

• The opportunity to make an impact and develop professionally by leveraging your unique strengths and participating in valuable learning experiences.

• Highly competitive compensation, benefits and rewards programs that encourage you to bring your best every day and be recognized for doing so.

• An engaging, people-first work environment offering work/life balance, employee resource groups, and social events to promote interaction and camaraderie.

• The targeted base pay range for this role is: $137,000 to $215,000 with this range reflecting differences in candidate knowledge, skills and experience.

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Why Make a Move to FICO?

At FICO, you can develop your career with a leading organization in one of the fastest-growing fields in technology today – Big Data analytics.  You’ll play a part in our commitment to help businesses use data to improve every choice they make, using advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, optimization, and much more.

FICO makes a real difference in the way businesses operate worldwide:

•    Credit Scoring — FICO® Scores are used by 90 of the top 100 US lenders.

•    Fraud Detection and Security — 4 billion payment cards globally are protected by FICO fraud systems.

•    Lending — 3/4 of US mortgages are approved using the FICO Score.

Global trends toward digital transformation have created tremendous demand for FICO’s solutions, placing us among the world’s top 100 software companies by revenue. We help many of the world’s largest banks, insurers, retailers, telecommunications providers and other firms reach a new level of success. Our success is dependent on really talented people – just like you – who thrive on the collaboration and innovation that’s nurtured by a diverse and inclusive environment. We’ll provide the support you need, while ensuring you have the freedom to develop your skills and grow your career.  Join FICO and help change the way business thinks!

Learn more about how you can fulfil your potential at www.fico.com/Careers

FICO promotes a culture of inclusion and seeks to attract a diverse set of candidates for each job opportunity. We are an equal employment opportunity employer and we’re proud to offer employment and advancement opportunities to all candidates without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. Research has shown that women and candidates from underrepresented communities may not apply for an opportunity if they don’t meet all stated qualifications. While our qualifications are clearly related to role success, each candidate’s profile is unique and strengths in certain skill and/or experience areas can be equally effective. If you believe you have many, but not necessarily all, of the stated qualifications we encourage you to apply.

Information submitted with your application is subject to the FICO Privacy policy at https://www.fico.com/en/privacy-policy