Vice President, Application Engineer

About This Role

Are you interested in building AI systems that fundamentally transform how software is engineered in a global financial institution? Do you like working at the speed of a startup while solving highly sophisticated, enterprise-scale problems in a highly complex environment?

At BlackRock, we are seeking a VP of AI Platform Engineering to lead the design and delivery of enterprise AI capabilities that power technologist enablement, and next-generation platform services. This leader will combine deep technical expertise in modern AI systems with strong engineering execution and organizational leadership.

About The Team

Our Platform Engineering division builds and operates the foundation system that power Aladdin and BlackRock's enterprise technology landscape. We are leading BlackRock's evolution toward an AI-native engineering organization. We are fundamentally reimagining how software is built, reviewed, tested, modernized, and operated through intelligent systems.

The AI Platform Engineering team is not simply integrating AI into existing workflows; we are redesigning those workflows altogether. The team drives step-change improvements in developer enablement, large-scale modernization, and enterprise AI governance.

Responsibilities

• Design scalable AI architecture leveraging LLMs, RAG, fine-tuning, and model optimization techniques.
• Establish evaluation frameworks to measure model quality, hallucination control, and precision/recall trade-offs.
• Lead the design and implementation of scalable AI platform capabilities used across the software development lifecycle.
• Partner with product and security teams to ensure AI solutions are safe, compliant, and production-ready.
• Drive delivery through ambiguity by breaking down complex problems into clear plans and milestones.
• Lead buy vs. build decisions, evaluating third-party solutions alongside internal capabilities.
• Identify technical risks and dependencies early, with mitigation and escalation where needed.
• Coordinate across multiple engineering teams and time zones to deliver shared outcomes.
• Translate complex AI capabilities into clear business values and communicate progress, trade-offs, and risks to senior stakeholders.
• Lead and develop a team of engineers and senior ICs, providing coaching and technical mentorship.
• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Support the growth of emerging leaders by delegating responsibility and increasing scope over time.

Requirements

• Strong experience building and operating production AI systems, including LLM-based workflows.
• Solid understanding of modern AI practices such as prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, fine-tuning, and evaluation.
• Proven experience designing and delivering shared platforms or services at scale.
• Deep technical fluency in Java and Python with hands-on experience building scalable, production-grade AI and platform services.
• Experience designing APIs and operating services in a cloud environment.
• Experience working with distributed Cloud environments.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across teams.
• Experience working in Agile development teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience working on developer productivity or platform engineering initiatives.
• Prior people-management experience, including leading small to mid-sized engineering teams.
• Familiarity with enterprise governance, security, and risk considerations for AI systems.

Compensation and Benefits

For New York, NY, the salary range for this position is USD $162,000.00 - $215,000.00. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus and comprehensive benefits, including healthcare, retirement plans, and Flexible Time Off (FTO).

Work Model

BlackRock operates a hybrid work model, requiring at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week.

Equal Opportunity

BlackRock is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religion, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable law.