Data Scientist (ML Engineer) - San Ramon, CA

At Franklin Templeton, we’re advancing our industry forward by developing new and innovative ways to help our clients achieve their investment goals. Our dynamic firm spans asset management, wealth management, and fintech, offering many ways to help investors make progress toward their goals. Our talented teams working around the globe bring expertise that’s both broad and unique. From our welcoming, inclusive, and flexible culture to our global and diverse business, we provide opportunities to help you reach your potential while helping our clients reach theirs.

Come join us in delivering better outcomes for our clients around the world!

About the Department

Franklin Templeton Technology (FTT) drives the technology strategy and delivers innovative technology solutions for Franklin Templeton (FT), a global investment leader delivering innovative multi-asset solutions across public and private markets. FT integrates asset allocation, manager research, and implementation to drive portfolio construction, execution, and strategic oversight. Joining FT means working in a collaborative, growth-oriented environment that values innovation in investment technology.

What is the Data Scientist (ML Engineer) in the FTT Digital Technology Group Responsible For?

As a Data Scientist / ML Engineer, you will play a critical role in designing, building, and productionizing machine learning systems that solve real-world business problems. You will focus on end-to-end ML lifecycle ownership, including data ingestion, feature engineering, model development, deployment, monitoring, and optimization in production environments.

You will work closely with data engineering, platform, and product teams to deliver scalable, reliable, and secure ML solutions. Under the guidance of senior technical leaders, you will contribute to engineering-grade ML architecture, gain hands-on experience with cloud-native ML systems, and help advance the organization’s AI capabilities.

Job Location: San Mateo or San Ramon, California office (Hybrid Schedule)

Ongoing Responsibilities (Engineering-Focused)

• Design, implement, and maintain robust, scalable data pipelines for ML workloads.

• Build automated data ingestion, validation, and preprocessing frameworks.

• Collaborate with data engineers to integrate ML workflows into enterprise data platforms.

• Optimize data storage and access patterns for high-volume, high-performance ML use cases.

• Ensure data quality, lineage, and reproducibility across ML pipelines.

• Develop, optimize, and maintain production-grade machine learning models.

• Implement feature engineering pipelines and reusable ML components.

• Design and build end-to-end ML architectures, from experimentation to deployment.

• Apply model evaluation, testing, and validation frameworks to ensure robustness.

• Lead efforts in Generative AI system design, mentoring team members on applied GenAI patterns and best practices.

• Translate ambiguous business problems into clear technical designs and ML system architectures.

• Deploy ML models using CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and cloud-native services.

• Implement model monitoring, performance tracking, drift detection, and retraining strategies.

• Partner with platform teams to ensure models meet security, scalability, and reliability standards.

• Troubleshoot and optimize ML systems in production environments.

• Contribute to ML platform standards, tooling, and reusable frameworks.

• Work closely with product managers, engineers, and business stakeholders to define technical requirements.

• Translate analytical insights into engineering deliverables for downstream systems.

• Communicate technical designs, trade-offs, and system behavior to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Collaborate with domain experts to integrate business logic into ML system design.

• Stay current with advancements in ML engineering, cloud platforms, MLOps, and Generative AI.

• Prototype and evaluate new tools, architectures, and frameworks.

• Contribute to technical documentation, design reviews, and best practices.

• Continuously improve system reliability, performance, and maintainability.

Ideal Qualifications, Skills & Experience (Engineering-Heavy)

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related discipline.

• 5+ years of hands-on experience building and deploying ML systems in production.

• Strong proficiency in Python with experience building production ML code.

• Advanced SQL skills and experience working with large-scale datasets.

• Experience with machine learning frameworks.

• Hands-on experience with data pipelines, feature stores, and ML workflows.

• Familiarity with Generative AI models and applied GenAI system patterns.

• Experience deploying models using containers (Docker) and CI/CD pipelines.

• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and managed ML services.

• Understanding of model monitoring, drift detection, and lifecycle management.

• Ability to design scalable, fault-tolerant ML architectures.

• Strong ability to translate business problems into engineering solutions.

• Comfortable working with ambiguous requirements and defining technical direction.

• Experience designing modular, reusable, and maintainable systems.

• Strong debugging, performance optimization, and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to explain complex ML systems and trade-offs to diverse stakeholders.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Team-oriented with the ability to work independently and take ownership.

• Effective planning, prioritization, and execution in fast-paced environments.

Compensation Range: Along with base compensation, other compensation is offered such as a discretionary bonus, 401k plan, health insurance, and other perks. There are several factors taken into consideration in making compensation decisions including but not limited to location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. At Franklin Templeton, we apply a total reward philosophy where all aspects of compensation and benefits are taken into consideration in determining compensation. The salary, benefits and variable rewards will reflect the seniority of the position and a competitive market rate. We expect the annual salary for this position to range between $125,000 to $160,000.

When applying, please be sure to attach your resume / CV. Applications without a resume file attachment will not be reviewed.

#LI-Hybrid
#ASSOCIATE

Experience our welcoming culture and reach your professional and personal potential!

Our culture is shaped by the variety of perspectives and experiences brought by talent from around the world. Regardless of your interests, lifestyle, or background, there’s a place for you at Franklin Templeton. We provide employees with the tools, resources, and learning opportunities to help them excel in their career and personal life.

By joining us, you will become part of a culture that focuses on employee well-being and provides multidimensional support for a positive and healthy lifestyle. We understand that benefits are at the core of employee well-being and may vary depending on individual needs. Whether you need support for maintaining your physical and mental health, saving for life’s adventures, taking care of your family members, or making a positive impact in your community, we aim to have your needs covered. Learn more about the wide range of benefits we offer at Franklin Templeton.

• Three weeks paid time off the first year

*Only applicable at certain locations

Franklin Templeton is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees, and we evaluate qualified applicants without regard to ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, or gender expression, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law, ordinance, or regulation.

If you believe that you need an accommodation or adjustment to search for or apply for one of our positions, please send an email to . In your email, please include the accommodation or adjustment you are requesting, the job title, and the job number you are applying for. It may take up to three business days to receive a response to your request. Please note that only accommodation requests will receive a response.