Director, Machine Learning Engineering

About the role

Chime's Data Science & Machine Learning team powers decisions across the company, from how we protect members to how we build products for them. We're looking for a Director to lead that team through its biggest shift yet: moving from traditional models to a modern, AI-driven approach built on transformers and foundation models. You'll lead managers and staff-level engineers, define what great ML looks like at Chime's scale, and rebuild the practice around it. If you want to shape the future of ML at a company where it directly affects members' financial lives, this is the role.

In this role, you can expect to

• Lead and grow Chime's ML organization, managing managers and staff-level engineers across all of Chime's ML work.

• Set the vision and roadmap for moving Chime's models from traditional approaches to transformer- and foundation-model-based systems.

• Coach your managers to build strong, high-performing teams, and raise the technical bar across the practice.

• Shape the architecture of Chime's ML platform, including how we train, fine-tune, serve and scale models on a modern GPU-based stack.

• Define what good ML looks like at Chime: standards for model development, evaluation, deployment and monitoring.

• Partner with product, engineering, risk and business leaders to turn ML into measurable impact for members.

• Make the call on when to build, buy or fine-tune, and explain the trade-offs clearly to executives.

To thrive in this role, you have

• Deep machine learning expertise, with a well-formed point of view on transformer and foundation models and where they do (and don't) beat traditional approaches.

• Familiarity with GPUs and the modern ML stack, from training and fine-tuning to serving models in production at scale.

• Experience managing managers and staff-level ICs, with the technical credibility to earn their trust.

• A track record of building or transforming an ML practice: hiring, setting standards and growing leaders.

• Experience setting a multi-year ML strategy and turning it into shipped results.

• Clear communication with executives and cross-functional partners; you can make complex ML trade-offs easy to follow.

• Bonus: experience applying ML in fintech or another regulated industry.

#LI-Onsite #LI-DA1

Below is the base salary offered for this role and level of experience. Full-time employees may also be eligible for bonus(es), competitive equity, and benefits. For commissioned roles, the base salary listed in this job description does not include incentive/variable pay. The actual base salary offered may be higher, depending on your location, skills, qualifications, and experience.

Wage Notice

$269,000—$373,000 USD

A little about us

At Chime, we believe that everyone can achieve financial progress. We created Chime—a financial technology company, not a bank*—on the premise that core banking services should be helpful, easy, and free. Through our user-friendly tools and intuitive platforms, we empower our members to take control of their finances and work towards their goals. Whether it's starting a savings account, purchasing a first car or home, launching a business, or pursuing higher education, we're proud to have helped millions unlock their financial potential.

We're a team of problem solvers, dreamers, and builders with one shared obsession: our members. From day one, Chimers have worked tirelessly to out-hustle and out-execute competitors to bring our mission to life. Their grit and determination inspire us to work harder every day to deliver the very best experience possible. We each bring an owner's mindset to our work, refusing to be outdone and holding ourselves accountable to meet and exceed the highest bars for our teams, our company,