Machine Learning Engineer Python Jobs in Chicago, IL

The Fitch Group's Emerging Technology team is seeking a Machine Learning Engineer to join a team focused on building and supporting Generative AI, Machine Learning (ML), and Data Science solutions across the organization. This position could be based in our Chicago office

The Emerging Technology team objectives: 

• Implement AI & ML technology in collaboration with business partners and product owners  

• Develop and support enterprise-level AI exploration tools and capabilities 

• Provide guidance and support for safe development and deployment of AI 

• Establish and maintain policies, guidelines, and processes for AI/ML governance, including third-party AI governance 

What We Offer: 

• A high impact role with significant visibility, working on flagship Fitch products 

• An excellent opportunity to work in cutting-edge areas of machine learning and data science 

• An excellent work culture known for providing a good work-life balance 

We'll Count on You To: 

• Work closely with product squads and partner teams to design, build, integrate, and deploy ML and GenAI solutions in production, while sharing best practices with other engineers. 

• Communicate ML and GenAI concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders, with a focus on practical application to Fitch use cases. 

• Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, and product partners to develop and deploy ML and GenAI solutions that deliver measurable business value. 

• Partner with data scientists and domain experts to identify practical opportunities where data, ML, and GenAI can improve business outcomes. 

• Build scalable services, pipelines, and workflows for ML and GenAI use cases, with guidance from senior engineers where needed. 

• Support production applications by helping maintain reliability, monitoring performance, and using metrics to improve existing ML solutions. 

• Use cloud services, primarily in AWS, to support data pipelines, model deployment, and LLM-based workflows. Familiarity with Azure services is a plus. 

• Use Python and large-scale workflow orchestration tools (for example, Airflow) to build production-quality services, data pipelines, and integrations across diverse data sources and storage systems. 

What You Need to Have: 

• 3+ years of experience as a machine learning engineer or in a closely related software engineering role focused on ML systems. 

• Experience writing production-quality Python code and applying sound software engineering practices. 

• Strong foundation in machine learning concepts and practical experience applying modern ML techniques to real-world problems. 

• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including code quality, automated testing, version control, observability, and performance optimization. 

• Experience building or integrating Generative AI applications, such as retrieval-augmented generation, evaluation workflows, or agent-assisted systems. 

• Experience building or improving search, retrieval, or data access layers that support ML or GenAI applications. 

• Experience with containerized deployment and orchestration, such as Docker and Kubernetes. 

• Experience with cloud-native ML and data services, especially in AWS. Familiarity with tools such as Bedrock, S3, SageMaker, Azure AI Search, or Azure OpenAI is helpful. 

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, machine learning, data science, applied mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. 

What Would Make You Stand Out: 

• Passion for using data and ML to drive better business outcomes for customers 

• Proven ability to work effectively in a distributed team environment and contribute in fast-paced settings. 

• Familiarity with credit ratings agencies, regulations, and data products 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills 

• Advocate of good code quality and architectural practices 

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work proactively as a team player 

Why Fitch?

At Fitch Group, the combined power of our global perspectives is what differentiates us. Our global network of colleagues comes together to accomplish things greater than they ever could alone.

Every team member is essential to our business and each perspective is critical to our success. We embrace a diverse culture that encourages a free exchange of ideas, guaranteeing your voice will be heard and your work will have an impact, regardless of seniority.

We are building incredible things at Fitch and we invite you to join us on our journey.

Fitch Group is a global leader in financial information services with operations in more than 30 countries. Wholly owned by the Hearst Corporation, we are comprised of three main businesses: Fitch Ratings | Fitch Solutions | Fitch Learning.

For more information please visit our websites:  

www.fitchratings.com | www.fitchsolutions.com | www.fitchlearning.com

Fitch is committed to providing global securities markets with objective, timely, independent and forward-looking credit opinions. To protect Fitch's credibility and reputation, our employees must take every precaution to avoid conflicts of interests or any appearance of a conflict of interest. Should you be successful in the recruitment process at Fitch Ratings you will be asked to declare any securities holdings and other potential conflicts prior to commencing employment. If you, or your immediate family, have any holdings that may conflict with your work responsibilities, you may be asked to divest yourself of them before beginning work.

Fitch Group is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, and other statuses protected by law.

FOR CHICAGO ROLES ONLY: Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $120,000 and $130,000 per year. Actual salaries will be determined on an individualized basis and may vary based on factors including but not limited to education, training, experience, past performance, and other job-related factors.  Base pay is one part of Fitch's total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, discretionary bonuses, long-term incentives, and other benefits sponsored by Fitch.