Data Scientist, Principal

Blue Shield of California in Oakland, CA, is seeking a Principal Data Scientist to lead generative AI initiatives and AI enabled products, shaping technical direction across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Define and steer the architecture and rollout of generative AI based applications, setting the technical direction for AI and ML across the enterprise
• Architect and build scalable generative AI powered apps, including LLMs, copilots, agents, and retrieval augmented generation, integrated into customer products and internal workflows
• Rapidly prototype features and iterate based on measured results
• Own the end-to-end development of new products and features from concept to initial release
• Collaborate with researchers and product managers to translate cutting edge AI research into practical product features
• Develop APIs, services, and data and retrieval pipelines that expose AI capabilities to applications
• Improve software performance and ensure reliability of deployed AI systems
• Advocate for best practices in building and deploying generative AI applications
• Assess model performance, analyze results, and implement improvements with governance and compliance in mind
• Provide mentorship and grow the capabilities of team members to foster a collaborative, high performing environment

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, a quantitative discipline, or equivalent practical experience
• 8 years of software development and applied AI/ML with a bachelor’s degree; or 5 years with a master’s; or a PhD with relevant experience
• Proven track record of delivering software products rapidly, not just building models or analyses
• Strong software engineering skills in Python, including building APIs and backend services
• Experience leading ML design and scaling ML infrastructure, including deployment, evaluation, and data processing, and working with ML frameworks and libraries
• Hands-on experience with deep learning and LLM application frameworks such as 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 is preferred
• Experience designing agent-based systems and orchestration frameworks is preferred
• Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, Google Cloud, or AWS) and scalable data processing with SQL or Spark is preferred
• Solid MLOps and LLMOps practices, including CI/CD, monitoring, and model lifecycle management, are preferred
• Experience rapidly developing and shipping software in a fast-paced, customer-facing environment, with adaptability to changing priorities preferred
• Understanding of responsible AI and governance for regulated or healthcare environments preferred

Technologies

• Python
• PyTorch
• TensorFlow
• LangChain
• LangGraph
• Azure
• Google Cloud
• AWS
• SQL
• Spark

Hybrid

• This role follows a hybrid workplace model balancing in-person collaboration with flexibility
• Typically requires coming into the office two days per week
• Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will coordinate in-office time with their manager based on business needs

About the Team

• Stellarus was launched in January 2025 to scale innovative healthcare solutions that help customers create a health care experience worthy of family, friends, and neighbors
• Stellarus is part of the Ascendiun nonprofit corporate entity, which also oversees Blue Shield of California, its subsidiary Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, and Altais
• Stellarus aims to empower customers to create a healthcare experience that is worthy of their family and friends
• The objective is to offer innovative, modern, scalable solutions that challenge the health care status quo, aligning with Blue Shield of California's goal to improve quality, affordability, and member experience through innovation
• Values guiding the team include agility, trust, drive, courage and service
• The workplace model emphasizes purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility, typically two in-office days per week; accommodations may be available for medical conditions, with periodic reviews and potential adjustments
• Physical requirements involve working in an office environment with mostly sedentary activity
• Equal Employment Opportunity: external hires must pass a background check and drug screen; applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable laws