At Franklin Templeton, we’re driving our industry forward by developing new and innovative ways to help our clients achieve their investment goals. Our dynamic and diversified 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 offer opportunities not only to help you reach your potential but also to contribute to our clients’ achievements. Come join us in delivering better outcomes for our clients around the world! What is the FTT AI & Digital Transformation Team responsible for?

The FTT AI & Digital Transformation group is a newly established team within Franklin Templeton Technologies, the technology function within Franklin Templeton Investments What is the Principal Research Scientist – AI & Optimization responsible for?

The core mandate of this role is to bring innovative digital investment products and solutions to market, leveraging a patented and innovative digital WealthTech/FinTech product - Goals Optimization Engine (GOE) - built with several years of academic research in mathematical optimization, probability theory and AI techniques at its core. The mandate also extends to leveraging cutting edge AI, such as Generative AI, in addition to Reactive AI to create value within various business functions within Franklin Templeton such as Investment Solutions, Portfolio Management, Sales & Distribution, Marketing, and HR functions, among others, in a responsible and appropriate manner. The possibilities are limitless here and present a fantastic opportunity for a self-motivated and driven professional to make significant contributions to the organization and to themselves. What are the ongoing responsibilities of a Principal Research Scientist – AI & Optimization?

As a Principal Research Scientist - AI and Optimization, you will play a pivotal role in driving innovation, product research, and proof of concepts for our AI research and Goals Optimization Engine (GOE) product roadmap. You will be responsible for mentoring and guiding a team of highly motivated research scientists, creating intellectual property, and ensuring successful client deployments and product development. Lead and contribute to the multi-year Goals Optimization Engine (GOE) product roadmap, conceptualizing fitment against various industry use cases, creating product variants, and designing new features and enhancements across multiple distribution lines and geographies

Mentor and guide a team of research scientists to achieve common objectives

Serve as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) for a specific domain within AI and/or Optimization, acting as the go-to person for all internal stakeholders

Develop pseudocode and working prototypes in a Python environment, collaborating closely with Product Managers and Product Developers

Create well-articulated design documents and presentations to explain research to internal and external stakeholders, including clients and partners located globally

Lead industry research and evaluate partnerships with third-party vendors and specialized service providers where appropriate

Maintain a thorough understanding of boundary conditions, regulatory environments, data challenges, technology integrations, algorithmic dependencies, and operational process nuances to ensure nothing slips through the cracks

Stay up to date with the latest developments in the Investment Management industry, Financial Mathematics, Portfolio Construction, and Portfolio Management

Conceptualize and produce high-quality intellectual property for publication in top-tier academic and practitioner journals

Peer-review the work of other research scientists and improve the outcome of their research output

Create patent-worthy intellectual content, apply for patents, and win them

Take responsibility for winning industry awards for exceptional product research and innovative work products

Stay informed about the latest industry research and evaluate it objectively and in an unbiased manner

Publish research works for conferences

Act as the SME in initial client deployment discussions, showcasing the rigor of research, explaining the product or solution concept, and engaging in discussions with similar individuals/teams from the client/partner side

Contribute to product development by ensuring alignment with research and design

Provide hands-on support where required to complete time-critical work successfully

Engage with third-party vendors and potential integration partners to understand their capabilities, methodologies, and algorithms, and perform rigorous due diligence to make clear recommendations on Go/No-Go decisions

What ideal qualifications, skills & experience would help someone to be successful?

Bachelor's and Master's degree in STEM disciplines; a PhD in a relevant discipline (Optimization, Probability, Quant Finance, AI & ML, Computational Mathematics, Statistics, etc.) would be a +

Relevant industry certifications

10+ years of applied R &D experience in research departments of reputed organizations post-Masters or PhD

Track record of real innovation generating impact is essential

Demonstrated ability to create intellectual content, publish papers, and obtain patents

Ability to effectively bridge the gap between academia and practice, ensuring research is practical and implementable

Structured thinking and exceptional mathematical skills

Excellent team player with the ability to work with ambiguity and thrive in chaos

Familiarity with ML/DL/DRL, NLP, especially Large Language Models, dynamic programming, and/or convex optimization

Solid experience with AWS and/or Azure

Familiar with Python, PySpark, SQL, Hadoop, C++

Proven ability to take initiative and work under pressure in a changing, fast paced environment

Exceptional decision-making skills, with the ability to prioritize across needs given limited resources

Thrives in a startup-like environment: loves dealing with a fast pace and changing needs

Ability to build relationships both inside and outside of the product organization

Ability to narrate a story for a problem along with the capacity to dive into minute details

Superlative communication and consensus-building skills