Machine Learning Researcher

YOUR MISSION We are searching for a curious individual who is comfortable multitasking while working on various aspects of our platform. In this role, you will be an essential part of an interdisciplinary team developing and testing the efficacy and safety of these therapeutics in mouse models and iPSCs. JOB DESCRIPTION Key Responsibilities * Molecular Characterization: Perform routine DNA/RNA extraction from diverse tissues and cells, followed by qPCR/ddPCR for biodistribution and Western Blotting/ELISA for protein expression analysis. * Cellular Assays: Maintain mammalian cell cultures and perform microscopy and/or flow cytometry to evaluate expression and therapeutic impact in disease-relevant models. * In Vivo Integration: Support the in vivo team with tissue processing, molecular follow-up, and behavioral assays depending on animal handling proficiency. * Sequencing Workflows: Prepare NGS libraries for transcriptomic studies to support our machine learning-driven design process. * Data Processing: Analyze and quantify results using various analytical software (GraphPad Prism, FlowJo, CellProfiler). * Documentation: Maintain a detailed and accurate electronic lab notebook (Benchling) and present data to the interdisciplinary design team. Required Qualifications * Education: B.S. or M.S. in Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, or a related field. * Experience: 1–3 years of laboratory experience in a research or industry setting.  Core Skillset * Strong proficiency in molecular biology (Western Blotting, ELISA, RNA/DNA isolation, NGS library preparation, and qPCR). * Strong aseptic technique and mammalian cell culture experience. Preferred Qualifications * In Vivo Skills: Basic experience with mouse handling, dosing, or tissue necropsy. * Therapeutic Area: Familiarity with AAV biology or muscle/CNS disease models. WHY US? * Contribute to the development of bespoke medicines for CNS and muscle diseases. * Work within a state-of-the-art platform that merges wet-lab biology with computational machine learning. * High-impact role with the opportunity to see therapies move from design toward the clinic.

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam. We are the first line of defense against fraud and abuse on the Plaid platform. Our mission is to ensure the safety and integrity of our platform for consumers and customers. As a Senior Fraud and Abuse Operations Analyst, you will be responsible for responding to fraud and abuse events, investigating claims, and triaging incidents. We also partner with product and engineering teams to inform and improve fraud mitigation strategies. Responsibilities: * Safeguard Plaid's Platform: Support the abuse on-call rotation, directly protecting our users and customers by swiftly and effectively responding to and resolving fraud and abuse events. Your timely actions will be instrumental in maintaining trust and security. * Drive Investigations and Mitigate Risks: Conduct thorough investigations into fraud and abuse claims from diverse sources. Your findings will inform crucial decisions and strategies, directly impacting Plaid's ability to prevent future incidents and minimize financial losses. Proactively perform threat modeling of abuse surfaces and continuously survey external fraud trends, adversary techniques, tooling, and emerging threat vectors. * Support Incident Response: Triage and manage high-priority fraud and abuse events as internal incidents (SEVs), collaborating across teams to drive resolution. Your expertise in these situations will minimize disruption and protect Plaid's reputation. * Shape Product Strategy: Act as the key operational partner to Consumer Risk and other product teams, providing vital insights and expertise. Your contributions will directly influence the development of effective fraud mitigation solutions, strengthening Plaid's defenses and shaping the future of our products." Requirements: 5+ years of experience in fraud/abuse operations, trust & safety, and/or incident response * Incident response and investigations: * Experience triaging fraud or related incidents, with tight containment deadlines. * Experience managing escalations and making informed trade-off decisions with multiple stakeholders. * Ability to coordinate and communicate effectively with internal Legal, Compliance, Comms and other risk management teams during incident triage. * A battle-tested mental model for balancing fraud mitigation vs. conversion, and the ability to calibrate and apply this mental model in the context of Plaid’s business objectives under pressure. * Fraud and abuse detection and prevention context: * Deep knowledge about fraud typologies–account takeover, different types of payments fraud, ACH fraud, chargebacks, kiting, rewards harvesting, etc. * Deep context about the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by bad actors to commit different types of fraud on the web. * Deep context about common mitigation strategies for the same, and informed opinions about their relative pros and cons. * Fraud and abuse intelligence: * Dark and grey-web navigation and investigation experience, ability to assess source credibility, and translate external intelligence into actionable insights. * Experience translating fraud investigations and research into actionable detection signals, rules, and labeled datasets, while partnering closely with DS/ML and product teams to improve feature sets, labeling quality, evaluation frameworks, and model decay monitoring. * Experience developing and maintaining threat models for authentication and other high-risk product surfaces, with a track record of proactively identifying emerging risks. * Data analysis skills: * Strong data analysis skills using common analysis and manipulation tools. * Strong SQL skills for querying data sets and quickly building reports. * Ability to identify anomalies and fraudulent patterns in logs and other data sets (transactions data, request data, etc.). * Operational depth and maturity: * Experience maturing an operational control that is resilient. * Exceptional written and verbal communication skills. Nice-to-Haves: * Familiarity with machine learning models for fraud detection. * Fraud domain certifications (e.g., CFE/fraud examination background). * Exposure to production ML model lifecycles and metrics for drift/decay. * Effective use of AI and AI agents to accelerate investigations and research Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid! Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at accommodations@plaid.com. Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here. Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.