✦ Luna Orbit — AI & Machine Learning

Applied Researcher II (AI Foundations, LLM Core and Agentic AI)

at Discover Financial Services

📍 5 Locations Unknown 💰 $262K – $299K USD / year Posted March 29, 2026
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Position Details

Salary $262K – $299K USD / year
Type Full-Time
Experience mid
Exp. Years 4+ years
Education PhD in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, AI, Mathematics, or related fields OR MS with degree by start date plus required experience
Category AI & Machine Learning

About this role

Applied Researcher II develops AI foundation models and agentic AI capabilities for Capital One/Discover Banking, partnering with data scientists and engineers to deliver AI-powered products.

Key Responsibilities

  • Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver AI-powered products
  • Build AI foundation models from design through deployment
  • Engage in high impact applied research and transfer to customer experiences
  • Translate complexity into business goals
  • Own research agenda and long-running projects

Technical Overview

Stack includes PyTorch, AWS Ultraclusters, HuggingFace, Lightning, VectorDBs; building foundation models and applying RLHF; production deployment on cloud.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a mid-level applied AI researcher with a PhD or MS and 4+ years of experience in NLP/LLMs, familiar with PyTorch, AWS, HuggingFace, and MLOps, and capable of delivering production-ready AI in banking products.

Must-Have Skills

Currently hasor is in the process of obtainingPhD in Electrical EngineeringComputer EngineeringComputer ScienceAIMathematicsor related fieldswith an exception that required degree will be obtained on or before the scheduled start date plus 2 years of experience in Applied Research or MS in Electrical EngineeringComputer EngineeringComputer ScienceAIMathematicsor related fields plus 4 years of experience in Applied Research

Nice-to-Have Skills

PhD in Computer ScienceMachine LearningComputer EngineeringApplied MathematicsElectrical Engineering or related fieldsLLMPhD focus on NLP or Masters with 5 years of industrial NLP research experienceMultiple publications on topics related to pre-training of large language modelsPublications in ACLNAACLEMNLPNeurIPSICML or ICLROptimization (Training & Inference)PhD focused on topics related to optimizing training of very large deep learning modelsExperience with compiler designFinetuningPhD focused on topics related to guiding LLMs with further tasks

Tools & Platforms

PyTorchHuggingFaceAWS UltraclustersLightningVectorDBs

Required Skills

AI foundationsLLM coreagentic AIPyTorchAWSHuggingFaceLightningVectorDBsNLPRLHFMLOpsdeep learning

Hard Skills

PythonPytorchHuggingfaceLightningVectorDBsNLPAI foundation modelsRLHFMLOpsCloud computing platforms

Soft Skills

Analytical thinkingCommunicationCollaborationCreativity

Industry & Role

Industry Banking
Job Function Develop and deploy AI foundation models and agentic AI for banking products
Role Subtype Applied Researcher II
Tech Domains Python, Amazon Web Services, PyTorch, HuggingFace, VectorDBs, NLP, MLOps, Lightning, Pytorch

Clearance & Visa

Visa Sponsorship Yes

Keywords for Your Resume

Applied Researcher IIAI FoundationsLLM CoreAgentic AIPytorchAWS UltraclustersHuggingfaceLightningVectorDBsLLMNLPRLHFMLOpsDeep LearningAI researchbankingcapital onepytorchaws ultraclustershuggingfacelightningvectordbsllm coreagentic ainlprlhfmlops
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