GEICO · 3 months ago
Sr Staff Research Scientist
Palo Alto, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$150K/yr - $300K/yr
8+ years expGEICO is a leading insurance company that thrives on innovation and excellence. They are seeking a Senior Staff Research Scientist to drive AI/ML initiatives, set technical strategies, mentor teams, and ensure alignment with business outcomes across multiple domains.
Auto InsuranceFinancial ServicesGovernmentInsuranceInternetMobile
Responsibilities
Drive the Direction and Vision of AI/ML Initiatives: Define and own the technical strategy and long-term roadmap for cross-functional AI/ML programs, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and scalable, robust, and compliant delivery
Identify High-Impact Opportunities: Surface and shape high-value AI use cases through deep engagement with product, engineering, data, and business leaders; translate ambiguous needs into actionable ML problem statements and investment cases
Architecture and Technical Leadership: Architect end-to-end AI/ML systems spanning data acquisition, feature engineering, model development, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring across online and batch environments. Establish standards for scalability, reliability, observability, security, compliance, and cost efficiency
Development and Productionization: Lead the full lifecycle of model development from concept to production, including rapid prototyping, A/B testing, causal inference, and continuous improvement with clear delivery plans and milestones
ROI Measurement and Experimentation: Establish rigorous KPI frameworks, experimentation strategies, and causal analysis to quantify business impact, prioritize investments, and guide decision-making for portfolio-level initiatives
Innovation and Research Integration: Stay current with cutting-edge ML/AI research. Prototype and translate novel techniques into hardened, scalable solutions within GEICO’s insurance ecosystem
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Drive collaboration across Product, Engineering, Data Platform, Governance, Legal, Security, and Operations to ensure responsible, reliable, and effective AI adoption
Mentorship and Capability Building: Mentor research scientists and engineers, elevate technical standards, and cultivate a culture of scientific rigor, engineering excellence, and continuous learning
Presentations and Executive Engagement: Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences. Present to senior leadership, setting context, explaining trade-offs, and building alignment and enthusiasm for AI/ML initiatives
Evangelism and Thought Leadership: Champion the transformative role of AI/ML across GEICO by speaking at internal forums, contributing to leadership discussions, and setting high standards that influence practices beyond your immediate team
Strategic and Cultural Leadership: Contribute to the overarching strategy, roadmap, and operating model for AI/ML at GEICO. Foster a culture of craftsmanship, innovation, accountability, and excellence
Qualification
Required
PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent practical experience with an exceptional track record of innovation and impact
Minimum of 8 years of professional experience delivering applied AI/ML solutions in production, with a proven record of leading end-to-end model development and cross-functional initiatives with enterprise impact
Deep theoretical and practical expertise in statistical learning, machine learning, deep learning, and large language models; ability to reason from first principles and select appropriate methods under real-world constraints
Demonstrated experience establishing KPI frameworks, experimentation strategies, and causal analysis to quantify model impact and inform prioritization
Proven ability to mentor and lead senior research scientists and engineers; establish and enforce high standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and reproducibility
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to influence senior executives and drive alignment across product, engineering, and business functions
Extensive experience with Python and SQL; deep hands-on expertise with ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Scikit-learn
Ability to solve complex technical challenges and craft long-term strategic visions that scale across teams and business areas
Preferred
Advanced modeling experience in numerical optimization, NLP, LLMs, and reinforcement learning; familiarity with evaluation strategies, guardrails, prompt design, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), red-teaming, and human-in-the-loop workflows
Research experience in computer science, statistics, machine learning, operations research, or related fields; record of patents, publications, or impactful open-source contributions
Strong background in experimentation platforms, causal inference, and counterfactual modeling
Experience with responsible AI, model governance, and risk management in regulated environments; familiarity with insurance operations is a plus
Benefits
Comprehensive Total Rewards program that offers personalized coverage tailor-made for you and your family’s overall well-being.
Financial benefits including market-competitive compensation; a 401K savings plan vested from day one that offers a 6% match; performance and recognition-based incentives; and tuition assistance.
Access to additional benefits like mental healthcare as well as fertility and adoption assistance.
Supports flexibility- We provide workplace flexibility as well as our GEICO Flex program, which offers the ability to work from anywhere in the US for up to four weeks per year.
Company
GEICO
GEICO, Government Employees Insurance Company, has been providing affordable auto insurance since 1936. It is a sub-organization of Berkshire Hathaway.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
GEICO has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (128)
2024 (277)
2023 (338)
2022 (212)
2021 (148)
2020 (205)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknown1996-01-01Acquired
Leadership Team
Todd Combs
Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer
Clayton Johnson
Sr. Director of Product Management
Recent News
Business Wire
2026-01-07
2025-12-15
Company data provided by crunchbase