Staff AI Engineer, Financial Crimes, Cash App

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams - People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more - provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.
The Role
The Financial Crimes Technology team at Cash App detects and reports illegal and suspicious activity on Cash App. We work globally with partners in Product, Counsel and Engineering to ensure we are providing a safe user experience for our customers while minimizing or eliminating bad activity on our platform
We are leveraging Generative AI (specifically Large Language Models) and Machine Learning as an integral part of our toolkit to fulfill our mission. As Cash App scales, we monitor hundreds of billions of dollars in transactions across traditional payment and blockchain networks. Our machine learning systems monitor and surface suspicious activity (money laundering, illegal activity and terms of service violations) for agent review. Our systems also proactively block payments in real time where appropriate. Now, we are also leveraging generative AI technologies to improve agent workflow and case review tools; by adding features that accelerate agent productivity and enable them to make faster, more informed and accurate decisions.
This is a new and significant opportunity to rethink and optimize Financial Crimes Operations at CashApp scale. This is an IC role, but the Staff level has significant leadership responsibilities that include owning, and driving strategic roadmaps & priorities to completion by collaborating with relevant cross functional stakeholders.
You Will

• Design, build, integrate and enhance batch inference services and tooling that support our LLM Copilot and Autopilot use cases
• Unblock the modelers on the team with the infrastructure/tools necessary for development & production work including solving MLOps, data access, security and scalability issues
• Develop prototypes and partner with modelers to encourage adoption of new tools and technologies and proactively identify and plan for future needs of our modelers
• Lead by example by applying AI/ML and engineering best practices
• Partner closely with Financial Crimes, AI/ML Platform and Product Engineering teams across Cash App and Block

You Have

• 5+ years of combined Machine Learning and Engineering industry experience (full stack ML experience is strongly preferred)
• A Masters or advanced degree in computer science, data science, operations research, applied math, stats, physics, or a related technical field
• Familiarity with Linux/OS X command line, version control software (git), and general software development principles with a machine learning software development life-cycle orientation
• Experience working with product, business, and engineering to prioritize, scope, design, and deploy ML models
• Familiarity with Python computing stack, MySQL, Snowflake, Airflow, Java/Go
• Hosted models for inference on public clouds like GCP, AWS and/or built micro-services to facilitate event based triggering, feature generation, model inference and downstream actioning

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, and always assess candidates on an individualized basis.
We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we're doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.
Block will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances
Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.
To find a location's zone designation, please refer to this resource . If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information.
Zone A:
$198,000 - $297,000 USD
Zone B:
$188,100 - $282,100 USD
Zone C:
$178,200 - $267,400 USD
Zone D:
$168,300 - $252,500 USD
Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Check out benefits at Block.
Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of Square, Cash App, Spiral, and TIDAL, we build tools to help more people access the economy. Square helps sellers run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services. With Cash App, anyone can easily send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or Bitcoin. Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) builds and funds free, open-source Bitcoin projects. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs and connect more deeply with fans. TBD is building an open developer platform to make it easier to access Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies without having to go through an institution.