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