Senior AI Research Scientist – Foundation Models & Agentic AI

Wells Fargo Bank•Charlotte, NC

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Wells Fargo’s Model Risk Management team is hiring a Senior AI Research Scientist to support applied research and development in artificial intelligence, with a focus on foundation models, agentic AI, and generative AI systems. The role combines AI research with financial applications and involves developing and rigorously evaluating emerging technologies that address real-world challenges and can enhance Wells Fargo products, services, and operations. The position works with large volumes of heterogeneous structured and unstructured data and collaborates with researchers, data scientists, applied engineers, and domain experts. Research findings may be translated into business solutions, open-source contributions, patents, and publications. The role also represents Wells Fargo in the AI research community through publications in leading conferences and journals. This position follows a hybrid work schedule and is eligible for visa sponsorship. Onsite work is expected at one of the listed locations: Charlotte, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Irving, Texas; West Des Moines, Iowa; Saint Louis, Missouri; Tempe, Arizona; or San Francisco, California. The base salary range is $139,000–$260,000, with potential eligibility for incentive opportunities.

Requirements

At least 4 years of quantitative analytics experience, or equivalent demonstrated through work experience, training, military experience, or education.
A master’s degree or higher in a quantitative discipline such as mathematics, statistics, engineering, physics, economics, or computer science.
Demonstrated ability to apply generative AI or agentic AI across the build lifecycle, including design, implementation, testing, and iteration.
Hands-on experience with GPU infrastructure, transformer architecture, and modern AI/ML development frameworks and tools such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Hugging Face, AWS, or GCP.
Strong engineering background, including ability to contribute to collaborative software engineering projects involving version control, code reviews, and scalable system design.
Experience transferring foundation models, LLMs, and agentic AI systems into production.

Nice To Haves

PhD in computer science, artificial intelligence, or a closely related computational field, or an MSc with at least 3 years of relevant applied research or industry experience.
Research track record with publications in top-tier AI/ML conferences such as NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, NAACL, or EMNLP, and interest in translating research into real-world applications.
Deep expertise in one or more areas such as foundation models (GPT-4, BERT, LLaMA, Claude), large language models, large reasoning models, multimodal models, or agentic AI.
Experience leveraging AI coding copilots such as GitHub Copilot and agentic coding workflows while maintaining enterprise standards.

Responsibilities

Conduct complex AI, generative AI, agentic AI, and machine learning research from ideation through experimentation, implementation, evaluation, and documentation.
Explore, apply, and rigorously evaluate emerging AI technologies for real-world challenges.
Contribute to developing foundation models and agentic AI systems operating on large volumes of structured and unstructured data.
Collaborate with researchers, data scientists, applied engineers, and domain experts.
Translate research findings into business solutions, open-source contributions, patents, and publications.
Publish in leading AI/ML conferences and journals and represent Wells Fargo in the broader AI research community.