Associate, AI Model Validation, RQA

About this role

Business Overview

The Risk & Quantitative Analysis (RQA) group provides independent oversight of BlackRock’s fiduciary and enterprise risks.  RQA’s principal objectives are to advance the firm’s risk management practices and to deliver independent risk expertise and constructive challenge to drive better business and investment outcomes.  

RQA is committed to investing in our people to increase individual enablement and ultimately build a stronger team. Our goal is to create a culture of inclusion which encourages collaboration, innovation, diversity and the development our future leaders.  We actively engage in discussions on career growth and work with team members to understand how personal passions and strength connect with our purpose. 

Role Description:  

The Enterprise Risk team within RQA oversees those risks which directly impact the corporate entity (i.e. BlackRock, Inc., or one of its subsidiaries), rather than the fiduciary risks assumed by funds/clients, such as investment risks and counterparty risks. The team’s focus includes but is not limited to operational risk, technology, vendor, model and market risk, stress testing for market risk and the quantitative estimation of capital adequacy requirements. 

The AI Validation Associate will perform independent reviews of AI tools and agents used across BlackRock, including agentic systems, RAG applications and other business workflows. This role requires strong technical expertise combined with risk management skills to challenge system design, data integrity, and performance monitoring. The role will be based onsite in our GGN office. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Conduct independent validation of AI usage in workflows, including testing for accuracy, efficiency of guardrails, orchestration, memory management and token usage. 
• Design and implement comprehensive validation strategies and test plans tailored to each AI use case. Define clear success criteria and quality benchmarks to measure whether the AI solution meets all requirements and standards.  
• Understand tool architecture, potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
• Assess conceptual soundness, methodology, and alignment with intended business use. 
• Review data quality, preprocessing steps and engineering decisions for AI use cases. 
• Execute functional and performance tests.  
• Evaluate performance metrics, robustness, and limitations under various scenarios. 
• Document validation findings, provide recommendations 
• Stay current on emerging AI technologies, validation techniques, and regulatory developments. 
• Communicate validation conclusions to relevant stakeholders, including escalating identified findings, risks or gaps to senior leadership and approval committees 
• Collaborate with AI Engineering, Data Science, and Risk teams to enhance AI transparency and trustworthiness. 

Experience, Skills and Qualification: 

• With 3-7 years’ works experience in the IT or financial industry.  
• Degree or Advanced degree (MS, PhD) in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or related field. 
• Strong understanding of generative AI technologies, including large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agentic systems, prompt engineering, tool use, and modern AI application architectures. 
• Experience with Python and common AI development libraries and frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow or similar). 
• Excellent analytical, communication, and documentation skills. 
• Ability to work independently and challenge stakeholders constructively. 
• Experience with one or more of the following:
• Validating usage of large language models (LLMs) in business context
• Evaluation methodologies, benchmark development, ground-truth creation, and AI quality assessment
• AI observability, monitoring, performance measurement, and operational controls
• AI orchestration frameworks, agent architectures, prompt engineering, memory management, and context optimization
• Exposure to cloud-based AI platforms and scalable model deployment 
• MCP, APIs, connectors and integrations of AI solutions with enterprise systems and data sources
• Responsible AI practices, including fairness, explainability, bias assessment, transparency, and model governance
• Fine-tuning or model customization techniques
• Security testing and risk assessment of AI systems, including prompt injection, jailbreak, and data leakage testing

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of benefits including a strong retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive healthcare, support for working parents and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

Guidance on AI use for candidates

At BlackRock, AI has long been part of how we work – enhancing decision-making, improving operations, and helping us deliver better outcomes for clients. We encourage candidates to use AI thoughtfully to learn, prepare, and work more effectively; but during our interview process, we want to focus on getting to know you through your own experiences, thinking, and judgment. To support you, we’ve provided guidance on when and how to use AI during our hiring process so you can approach each step with confidence and showcase your best self.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

To learn more about BlackRock, please visit Careers.BlackRock.com. We also encourage you to get to know us on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok.

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, family status, gender identity, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected attributes at law.