About this role
Business Overview
The Risk & Quantitative Analysis (RQA) group provides independent oversight of BlackRock’s fiduciary and enterprise risks. RQA’s principal objectives are to advance the firm’s risk management practices and to deliver independent risk expertise and constructive challenge to drive better business and investment outcomes.
RQA is committed to investing in our people to increase individual enablement and ultimately build a stronger team. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion which encourages collaboration, innovation, diversity and the development our future leaders. We actively engage in discussions on career growth and work with team members to understand how personal passions and strength connect with our purpose.
Role Description:
The Enterprise Risk team within RQA oversees those risks which directly impact the corporate entity (i.e. BlackRock, Inc., or one of its subsidiaries), rather than the fiduciary risks assumed by funds/clients, such as investment risks and counterparty risks. The team’s focus includes but is not limited to operational risk, technology, vendor, model and market risk, stress testing for market risk and the quantitative estimation of capital adequacy requirements.
The AI Validation Associate will perform independent reviews of AI tools and agents used across BlackRock, including agentic systems, RAG applications and other business workflows. This role requires strong technical expertise combined with risk management skills to challenge system design, data integrity, and performance monitoring. The role will be based onsite in our GGN office.
Key Responsibilities:
- Conduct independent validation of AI usage in workflows, including testing for accuracy, efficiency of guardrails, orchestration, memory management and token usage.
- Design and implement comprehensive validation strategies and test plans tailored to each AI use case. Define clear success criteria and quality benchmarks to measure whether the AI solution meets all requirements and standards.
- Understand tool architecture, potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
- Assess conceptual soundness, methodology, and alignment with intended business use.
- Review data quality, preprocessing steps and engineering decisions for AI use cases.
- Execute functional and performance tests.
- Evaluate performance metrics, robustness, and limitations under various scenarios.
- Document validation findings, provide recommendations
- Stay current on emerging AI technologies, validation techniques, and regulatory developments.
- Communicate validation conclusions to relevant stakeholders, including escalating identified findings, risks or gaps to senior leadership and approval committees
- Collaborate with AI Engineering, Data Science, and Risk teams to enhance AI transparency and trustworthiness.
Experience, Skills and Qualification:
- With 3-7 years’ works experience in the IT or financial industry.
- Degree or Advanced degree (MS, PhD) in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or related field.
- Strong understanding of generative AI technologies, including large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agentic systems, prompt engineering, tool use, and modern AI application architectures.
- Experience with Python and common AI development libraries and frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow or similar).
- Excellent analytical, communication, and documentation skills.
- Ability to work independently and challenge stakeholders constructively.
- Experience with one or more of the following:
- Validating usage of large language models (LLMs) in business context
- Evaluation methodologies, benchmark development, ground-truth creation, and AI quality assessment
- AI observability, monitoring, performance measurement, and operational controls
- AI orchestration frameworks, agent architectures, prompt engineering, memory management, and context optimization
- Exposure to cloud-based AI platforms and scalable model deployment
- MCP, APIs, connectors and integrations of AI solutions with enterprise systems and data sources
- Responsible AI practices, including fairness, explainability, bias assessment, transparency, and model governance
- Fine-tuning or model customization techniques
- Security testing and risk assessment of AI systems, including prompt injection, jailbreak, and data leakage testing
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
- 3-7 years of work experience in the IT or financial industry
- Degree or advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or a related field
- Strong understanding of generative AI, including LLMs, RAG, agentic systems, prompt engineering, tool use, and modern AI application architectures
- Experience with Python and AI development libraries or frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Excellent analytical, communication, and documentation skills
- Ability to work independently and challenge stakeholders constructively
- Experience validating LLM usage in business contexts, AI evaluation methodologies, benchmark development, ground-truth creation, or AI quality assessment
- Experience with AI observability, monitoring, performance measurement, operational controls, orchestration frameworks, agent architectures, prompt engineering, memory management, or context optimization
- Exposure to cloud-based AI platforms and scalable model deployment
- Experience with MCP, APIs, connectors, or enterprise AI integrations
- Knowledge of responsible AI practices, including fairness, explainability, bias assessment, transparency, and model governance
- Experience with fine-tuning or model customization techniques
- Experience with AI security testing and risk assessment, including prompt injection, jailbreak, or data leakage testing
BlackRock Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision plans with HSA/FSA options and telemedicine. Mental-health resources such as counseling/EAP, wellness incentives, and Calm access are also featured.
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Retirement Support — Retirement programs include savings plans, employer-supported contributions described as competitive in summaries, and financial education resources. An Employee Stock Purchase Plan is also noted in certain locations.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental leave is gender-neutral with up to 16 weeks for primary caregivers and 4 weeks for non-primary caregivers. Additional supports include adoption assistance, fertility benefits in some locations, childcare/elder-care resources, and nursing-mother programs.
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.
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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.
