About this role
Business Overview
PMGTech is the horizontal technology platform within BlackRock’s Portfolio Management Group (PMG), integrating investment research with advanced engineering, AI, and alternative data to make technology a direct driver of alpha. It operates as one global team across three verticals – Platform Strategy, Research Solutions (DS&S), and Platform Change (IPT) – partnering closely with the BlackRock Aladdin ecosystem and PMG investment leadership. This integrated model delivers a coherent tech strategy, strengthens the research community, and scales capabilities across regions, asset classes (Equities, Fixed Income, Multi-asset), and investment styles (discretionary and systematic).
PMGTech leads PMG’s AI strategy by building an AI-ready research environment, unified data layer, agentic orchestration networks, and an investment-focused application layer to deploy AI-powered research solutions into production. As part of PMGTech, you will work directly with investment researchers and portfolio managers to build and scale capabilities in data engineering, GenAI, and platform tooling, streamlining research workflows and enabling differentiated, alpha-generative investment insights across PMG’s investment pillars.
Job Purpose / Background
DS&S envisions the AI Lead Engineer role as an investor-facing technical partner role with deep AI, data, and systems expertise who designs and builds AI-powered research applications that integrate seamlessly into investor research workflows.
AI Lead Engineers will sit within DS&S pods - asset-class focused sub-teams - and collaborate directly with investors across Portfolio Management Group (PMG) to understand business requirements, map research workflows, identify opportunities for AI leverage, and translate them into intuitive, scalable, production–grade research applications.
AI Lead Engineers will own the technical vision, design, architecture, and product experience of specific research apps, partnering with Research Engineers, Engineering Hub and Platform to ensure these applications are robust, usable, and aligned with investor objectives.
Key Responsibilities
Design architectures for AI-powered research applications leveraging Generative AI capabilities (RAG, agentic workflows, search, model fine-tuning).
Partner with investors to translate open-ended research questions into feasible AI-driven product concepts.
Be hands-on in leading the lifecycle from POC to MVP to production for AI applications, including data pipelines and backend integration.
Own the end-to-end user experience of investor-facing research apps, including intuitive front-end UI designs.
Evaluate emerging models and APIs; define best practices for prompts, safety, reliability, and testing with internal and external tech teams.
Leverage enterprise data engines, orchestration frameworks, and secure/observable production practices with Engineering Hub and Platforms.
Implement monitoring, observability, evaluation frameworks, and data-quality safeguards for GenAI-powered research applications.
Skills & Qualifications
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, or equivalent.
3+ years of work experience delivering ML, AI, and data-intensive systems.
Hands-on experience building and deploying AI systems end-to-end - including LLM workflows, prompt engineering, RAG pipelines, entity extraction, embeddings/vector search, text2sql, fine-tuning, evaluation, and backend integration using Python and SQL.
Strong written and oral communication skills and ability to work directly with investors and senior partners is a must.
Domain specific experience is a plus - building data-driven / research applications for investment research, investment management or financial services.
Hands-on experience with any major cloud platform, proficiency in front-end or full-stack development is a plus.
Preference for prior experience with open-source language models and actively staying current with developments in the rapidly evolving generative AI landscape.
Understanding of investment strategies and asset classes is a plus.
Key Attributes
Deep curiosity about investment management and investment research.
Ability to translate business and research needs into technical solutions.
Technical leadership from concept to implementation.
Strong product intuition and user-centric thinking.
Ability to simplify complex AI systems into intuitive user experiences.
High standards for quality, reliability, and safety in AI systems.
Our benefits
To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.
Our hybrid work model
BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.
Guidance on AI use for candidates
At BlackRock, AI has long been part of how we work – enhancing decision-making, improving operations, and helping us deliver better outcomes for clients. We encourage candidates to use AI thoughtfully to learn, prepare, and work more effectively; but during our interview process, we want to focus on getting to know you through your own experiences, thinking, and judgment. To support you, we’ve provided guidance on when and how to use AI during our hiring process so you can approach each step with confidence and showcase your best self.
About BlackRock
At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being. Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.
This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.
To learn more about BlackRock, please visit Careers.BlackRock.com. We also encourage you to get to know us on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok.
BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected attributes at law.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI/ML, or equivalent
- 3+ years delivering ML, AI, and data-intensive systems
- Hands-on experience building and deploying AI systems end-to-end, including LLM workflows, prompt engineering, RAG pipelines, entity extraction, embeddings/vector search, text2sql, fine-tuning, evaluation, and backend integration
- Proficiency with Python and SQL for backend and data work
- Strong written and oral communication; ability to work directly with investors and senior partners
- Hands-on experience with a major cloud platform
- Domain experience building data-driven research applications for investment management or financial services
- Proficiency in front-end or full-stack development
- Prior experience with open-source language models and staying current with generative AI developments
- Understanding of investment strategies and asset classes
BlackRock Compensation & Benefits Highlights
-
Retirement Support — The package includes a 401(k)/Retirement Savings Plan with an employer match plus an additional company retirement contribution. Together with an employee stock purchase option, this positions retirement support as a notable strength for U.S. roles.
-
Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave and family‑building resources (adoption, fertility, nursing support) are emphasized, alongside child, special‑needs, and elder‑care resources. This breadth signals meaningful support across diverse family situations.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Flexible Time Off (FTO) for eligible roles is promoted, with additional sick and bereavement leave. Time away is framed as enabling rest and recharge when needed.
BlackRock Insights
What We Do
As the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock partners with investors around the globe to help them (and those on whose behalf they invest) plan for life’s most important goals – like retirement, home ownership and their children’s education. Our clients range from governments, foundations and other large institutions to those investing on behalf of individuals, including firefighters, nurses, teachers and factory workers. BlackRock was founded with the idea of creating a better asset management firm — one that was purpose-driven, focused on clients and risk management, and propelled by data and technology. Our breakthrough Aladdin® platform is BlackRock’s technological backbone, helping investors see and manage their whole portfolios in one place – from constructing investments to monitoring risk and executing trades. Used by hundreds of external institutions around the world, Aladdin combines powerful analytics and a common language to help investment teams make faster, more informed decisions across public and private markets. It’s a key part of our business and one of the reasons we’re trusted to manage more assets than any other investment manager today. At BlackRock, we challenge conventions and raise the bar for what’s possible. We harness technology to unlock new solutions, simplify complexity, and deliver investment strategies that meet people where they are. Whether it’s retirement planning, wealth building or navigating market shifts, we’re here to help clients invest more easily, more affordably and with more choice as we chart a path toward financial well-being together. Learn more: Careers.BlackRock.com
Why Work With Us
Without our people, technology is irrelevant. When we combine the power of people with the power of technology, we amplify our ability to create better outcomes for our employees, clients, shareholders and society alike.
Gallery
BlackRock Teams
BlackRock Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
BlackRock has 25,000 employees across more than 100 offices in over 40 countries around the world.
