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Blue Shield of California has filed 8 layoff notices in the last twelve months, covering 60 workers, most recently August 2026. These are public filings with state labor departments, and an open role can sit alongside them. See the filings

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About the job

Your Role

The AI & Machine Learning team works in partnership across the enterprise to accelerate business outcomes by applying AI, machine learning, and generative AI to build intelligent products that create “intelligence at scale.” Reporting to the Director, AI & Machine Learning, the Data Scientist, Principal will lead the development and deployment of novel applications that leverage generative AI models. This role focuses on rapidly developing new features and working across partner teams to deliver solutions and maximize impact, translating cutting-edge AI research into real-world products and taking features from 0 to 1. You will design, build, and ship production-grade AI products including LLM-powered applications, AI agents and copilots, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and search, and AI-enabled automation embedded directly into customer-facing applications and enterprise workflows such as claims, payment integrity, clinical insights, and member experience. You will set the technical direction for how AI is applied across the organization.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow – personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Your Work

In this role, you will:

Lead the development and deployment of novel applications that leverage generative AI models, setting the technical direction for AI and machine learning across the organization

Design and develop scalable applications leveraging generative AI models including LLM applications, copilots, agents, and RAG and search, embedded in customer-facing products and enterprise workflows

Rapidly prototype new features and iterate based on evaluation results

Lead the architecture and development of new products and features from 0 to 1

Collaborate with researchers and product managers to translate cutting-edge AI research into tangible product features

Build the APIs, services, and data and retrieval pipelines that expose AI capabilities to applications

Optimize software performance and ensure the reliability of deployed applications

Champion best practices for building and deploying generative AI applications

Evaluate model performance, analyze results, and implement improvements, ensuring responsible and compliant AI

Mentor and develop team members, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment

Your Knowledge and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, a quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical experience; Master’s degree or PhD preferred

10 years of prior relevant experience in data science, machine learning, applied AI/ML, software engineering, or advanced analytics

Advanced degrees in a relevant field may be considered in lieu of a portion of the required experience

Proven track record of building and shipping software products rapidly, not just developing models or analyses

Strong software engineering skills and proficiency in Python, including building APIs and backend services

Experience leading ML design and optimizing ML infrastructure, model deployment, evaluation, and data processing, and working with machine learning frameworks and libraries

Hands-on experience with deep learning and LLM application frameworks, including PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain, and LangGraph

Hands-on experience building applications that leverage generative AI models, including prompt engineering and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)

Experience with generative AI research or applications preferred

Experience designing agent-based systems and orchestration frameworks preferred

Experience with cloud computing platforms and infrastructure (e.g., Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS), and scalable data processing with SQL or Spark preferred

Solid MLOps and LLMOps practices, including CI/CD, monitoring, and model lifecycle management preferred

Experience rapidly developing and shipping software in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment, adapting to changing priorities preferred

Understanding of responsible AI and governance for regulated or healthcare environments preferred

Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

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