Senior Applied Research Scientist

Job description

Why Join GEICO? At GEICO, we offer a rewarding career where your ambitions are met with endless possibilities. Every day we honor our iconic brand by offering quality coverage to millions of customers and being there when they need us most. We thrive on relentless innovation to exceed our customers' expectations while making a real impact on local communities nationwide. Founded in 1936, GEICO is a member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies and one of the largest auto insurers in the United States. When you join our company, we want you to feel valued, supported, and proud to work here. That's why we offer the GEICO Pledge: Great Company, Great Culture, Great Rewards, and Great Careers. Job Title: Senior Research Scientist We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Research Scientist with a strong technical background and proven expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence. As the AI Research team at GEICO continues to grow, you will serve as a tech lead driving end-to-end AI initiatives —from problem framing and experimentation to production deployment and adoption. You will set technical direction, architect scalable solutions, and mentor juniors while partnering closely with product, engineering, and domain experts to deliver measurable business impact. Key Responsibilitie s: Lead AI/ML Solution Design & Delivery: Lead the design and delivery of ML and GenAI solutions for complex, ambiguous, cross-functional problems. Define success metrics, validation plans, and pathways to production. Technical Roadm app ing & Partnership: Partner with product, engineering, and domain experts to translate business needs into feasible technical roadmaps, de-risking assumptions and aligning milestones to outcomes. Experimentation & Causal Inference: Design online experiments and quasi-experimental analyses; instrument and monitor business KPIs to quantify value and inform decision-making. Mentorship & Coaching: Mentor junior scientists and engineers, share best practices, and cultivate a high bar for scientific rigor, coding standards, and reproducibility. Communication & Stakeholder Management: Communicate app roach, trade-offs, and results to technical and non-technical audiences; provide realistic estimates and influence decision-making across the organization. Key Competencies: Technical Leadership: Proven ability to set technical direction and make authoritative decisions on modeling app roaches, architecture, and trade-offs. Scientific Rigor: Strong experimental design, statistical reasoning, and causal inference skills with an emphasis on measurable business outcomes. Creativity & Problem Solving: Demonstrated ability to break down ambiguous problems and deliver pragmatic, scalable solutions. Communication & Influence: Clear, structured communication that bridges technical and business stakeholders. Mentorship: Track record of elevating teammates through code/design reviews and knowledge sharing. Strategic Thinking: Aligns day-to-day execution with long-term platform, data, and business strategy. Adaptability: Thrives in a fast-paced environment and adjusts to evolving priorities and constraints. Minimum Requirements: Master’s or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent practical experience. 3+ years of experience developing, deploying, and operating AI/ML models in production. Strong proficiency in Python, dat a p rocessing, and SQL, and in AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch and Scikit-learn. Experience designing online experiments and conducting causal analyses; demonstrated ability to define, instrument, and monitor business KPIs. Proven experience leading end-to-end AI/ML initiatives and partnering cross-functionally with product and engineering. Preferred Qualifications: Experience with the design, development, and optimization of high-quality prompts and templates that guide the behavior and responses of LLMs. Experience with GenAI quality management, including evaluators, red-teaming, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop systems. Familiarity with insurance operations and model governance in regulated environments. Work Location s : Candidates must be open to the following locations: Chevy Chase , Maryland Palo Alto, CA New York City, NY Annual Salary $115,000.00 - $230,000.00 The above annual salary range is a general guideline. Multiple factors are taken into consideration to arrive at the final hourly rate/ annual salary to be offered to the selected candidate. Factors include, but are not limited to, the scope and responsibilities of the role, the selected candidate’s work experience, education and training, the work location as well as market and business considerations. GEICO will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position. The GEICO Pledge: Great Company: Protecting customers through life’s twists and turns with innovation and integrity. Great Careers: Personalized development programs, mentorship, and certification assistance. Great Culture: Inclusive and collaborative culture rooted in shared success. Great Rewards: Competitive pay, benefits, and flexibility to support your well-being and future. The equal employment opportunity policy of the GEICO Companies provides for a fair and equal employment opportunity for all associates and job applicants regardless of race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, familial status, disability or genetic information, in compliance with applicable federal, state and local law. GEICO hires and promotes individuals solely on the basis of their qualifications for the job to be filled. GEICO reasonably accommodates qualified individuals with disabilities to enable them to receive equal employment opportunity and/or perform the essential functions of the job, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship to the Company. This applies to all applicants and associates. GEICO also provides a work environment in which each associate is able to be productive and work to the best of their ability. We do not condone or tolerate an atmosphere of intimidation or harassment. We expect and require the cooperation of all associates in maintaining an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment with mutual respect by and for all associates and applicants.