Principal Application Engineer (Machine Learning)

Discover. A brighter future.
With us, you'll do meaningful work from Day 1. Our collaborative culture is built on three core behaviors: We Play to Win, We Get Better Every Day & We Succeed Together. And we mean it - we want you to grow and make a difference at one of the world's leading digital banking and payments companies. We value what makes you unique so that you have an opportunity to shine.
Come build your future, while being the reason millions of people find a brighter financial future with Discover.
Job Description:
What You'll Do
Uses vast repertoire of delivering high impact software solutions to work intuitively. Speed comes from intuition. If something breaks you know where to look. Typically does the tough parts - e.g. (re)design and spends more time documenting than coding.
Actively manages and escalates risk and customer-impacting issues within the day-to-day role to management.
Responsible for overseeing the design and implementation of products assigned to the team. This role includes developing DevOps best practices and the development of tools to facilitate cloud-based application development. The engineer will be responsible for providing Kafka infrastructure to support an event-driven architecture and will also engage in diverse research and development activities to build data science, machine learning, and AI capabilities that extract actionable insights and power intelligent systems.
How You'll Do It

• Creates technology solutions addressing high impact business priorities. Demonstrates the ability to analyze, design, code, test and deploy solutions and product features with high quality to production. Level of technical expertise enables solutions with high complexity and depth.
• Competent in multiple technical domains, including programming languages, security, automation, testing, and business domains. As a result, is the go-to person for many people outside of their team.
• Participates in strategic technology decisions and understands how these decisions impact Discover as a whole.
• Proactively identifies and mitigates issues based on intuition and experience in multiple domains. Is a thought leader amongst team members and drives problem solving to determine root cause.
• Coaches technology communities at Discover in areas of specific technology domain, design-thinking, agile software development way of working, security, architecture and/or data engineering.

Qualifications You'll Need
Minimum Requirements

• Bachelors Computer Science, Engineering, Informatics, Information Security, Information Technology or related
• 6+ years Information Technology, (Software) Engineering, or related
• Internal applicants only: technical proficiency of Proficient on the Dreyfus Engineering scale.

Preferred Requirements

• 5+ years of development experience in a language such as Python
• Hands-on experience working in a Cloud-based environment, specifically AWS or OCP, Kubernetes, including deploying and debugging
• Working experience with an event driven architecture such as Kafka
• Experience in Machine Learning Platforms and Data Science Technologies
• Experience in designing, building, and deploying scalable AI/ML models while proactively managing associated risks
• Experience in Large Language models and generative AI platforms.
• Strong software design and architecture skills
• Experience writing and running unit and integration tests
• Ability to operate independently, investigate solutions deeply, and see a task through from planning and design to deployment and adoption.
• Willingness to switch work priorities as new initiatives emerge, embrace change, and effectively communicate complex ideas while actively listening to feedback.
• Uses critical thinking to question assumptions and improve processes, and has a passion for learning new technologies, creating proof-of-concepts, and educating others

Physical and Cognitive Requirements
The physical requirements described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable a qualified individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position as required by federal, state, and local laws:

• Primarily remain in a stationary position.
• No required movement about the work environment to complete the major responsibilities of the job.
• Primarily performed indoors in an office setting.
• Ability to operate office equipment such as but not limited to computer, telephone, printer, and calculator.
• Ability to communicate verbally. Ability to communicate in written form.
• Travel Requirements - No

External applicants will be required to perform a technical interview.
Discover will not sponsor or transfer employment work visas for this position. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.
#LI-AM2
Application Deadline:
The application window for this position is anticipated to close on Aug-13-2025. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. The posting may be available past this date, but it is not guaranteed.
Compensation:
The base pay for this position generally ranges between $107,000.00 to $180,200.00. Additional incentives may be provided as part of a market competitive total compensation package. Factors, such as but not limited to, geographical location, relevant experience, education, and skill level may impact the pay for this position.
Benefits:
We also offer a range of benefits and programs based on eligibility. These benefits include:

• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Time Off
• 401(k) Plan
• Medical, Dental, Vision, & Health Savings Account
• Short and Long Term Disability, Life, and Accidental Death & Dismemberment insurances
• Recognition Program
• Education Assistance
• Commuter Benefits
• Family Support Programs
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Learn more at mydiscoverbenefits.com .
What are you waiting for? Apply today!
All Discover employees place our customers at the very center of our work. To deliver on our promises to our customers, each of us contribute every day to a culture that values compliance and risk management.
Discover, a division of Capital One, N.A., is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or other legally protected status. (Know Your Rights)
Discover complies with federal, state, and local laws applicable to qualified individuals with disabilities and is committed to providing reasonable accommodations. If you require a reasonable accommodation to search for a position, to complete an application, and/or to participate in an interview, please email [email protected] . Any information you provide regarding your accommodation needs will be kept confidential and will only be used to determine and provide necessary accommodation.
At Discover, we are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable workplace through our Fair Chance Hiring practices. Fair Chance Hiring means that we base our hiring decisions on an applicant's qualifications rather than their criminal record. All our positions are subject to Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. Our applicants go through a background check, and we follow all applicable local laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance ( LA County Fair Chance ).
Positions marked as remote eligible are limited to remote locations within the country in which the position is based.
Applicants must be 18 or older at the time of hire.