Head of AI Research Engineering

This is Adyen

Adyen is the financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, providing payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for global customers like Meta, Uber, and H&M. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition. We create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by a culture that encourages ownership and provides the support to truly own your career. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team, delivering innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

The Opportunity

Adyen is building a top-tier AI research engineering hub in San Francisco to help drive our next chapter of innovation. This is a rare opportunity to be the builder, operator and shaper of how we apply AI across our global platform - a publicly traded fintech powering e2e payments and financial products across the globe with access to a rich dataset (1.4 trillion USD processed volume in 2024).

We’re looking for a visionary, highly technical, hands-on technical leader who is deeply immersed in the latest AI research—especially Generative AI (GenAI), Large Language Models (LLMs), and agentic workflows—and is excited to translate ideas into scalable, production-ready systems. You’ll build cross-functionally with our global teams to explore how AI can enhance our products, improve our infrastructure, and most critically: create real business impact.

While the initial focus is building and scaling the discipline, we’re also looking for someone who brings experience building high impact engineering teams, defining disciplines, and who’s excited to help shape and grow our AI presence in the Bay Area over time.

What You’ll Do

• Assembling a World-Class Team: Hire, build and mentor Adyen’s San Francisco AI hub from the ground up by leading your team to rapidly prototype AI features and implement research into production-quality systems.
• Own the Charter, Scale the Vision: Define and execute the long-term vision for AI at Adyen, how we ship new products by building autonomous AI systems, and how AI interacts with consumers, merchants and financial institutions by chartering alignment with the business that builds for the future in mind.
• Technical Execution, Research and Project Management:
  • Translate cutting-edge research papers into robust, scalable code that delivers measurable business value.
  • Collaborate closely with Adyen’s global engineering and product teams to integrate AI into existing products and internal tooling.
  • Contribute to research efforts in areas such as AI agents for operational workflows, human-in-the-loop systems for Integrity Risk, and experimentation with foundational models.
  • Define and track success metrics for your research implementations, ensuring they drive meaningful and visible impact.
• AI Community Research and Engagements: Stay connected to the AI research community in San Francisco, attending key events and surfacing relevant trends or partnership opportunities.

Who You Are

• Visionary Technical Leadership: You are a highly technical, hands-on leader who maintains deep expertise in cutting-edge AI research, particularly GenAI, LLMs, and agentic workflows, and are capable of defining and executing a multi-year technical roadmap for a new discipline.
• Building & Scaling Expertise: You possess a proven track record of successfully hiring, mentoring, and leading world-class research or deep-learning engineering teams from the ground up, ideally in a new geographical or organizational setting. You thrive in ambiguity and are motivated by building from scratch, not inheriting a playbook.
• Strategic Execution: You are motivated by building new disciplines in ambiguous environments and thrive on defining the charter and long-term vision for the team.
• Research to Production Credibility: You have demonstrated experience leading teams to translate complex academic research into robust, scalable, and high-performance production systems, and you are comfortable setting the technical excellence bar for this discipline.
• Business and Product Alignment: You own the measurable impact of your team’s work, strategically aligning research initiatives with critical business outcomes and defining success metrics that drive meaningful, visible impact across the global platform.
• Culture and Influence: You are energized by the opportunity to define the technical culture, mentor and influence engineers across Adyen globally, and represent Adyen's AI mission both internally and externally.
  Domain Context: You possess a nuanced understanding of the unique security, privacy, and performance challenges inherent in bridging scientific AI research with real-world applications in a regulated, high-scale fintech environment.

Compensation

The annual base salary range for this role is $228,000 - $400,000, plus RSUs; to learn more about our compensation philosophy, please click here.

Location

San Francisco. Office-first; we do not offer remote-only roles.

Why Adyen?

This is an exceptional opportunity to join a solid, established company with a startup mindset, characterized by small teams, direct communication, and work on important challenges. You’ll have direct access to massive global datasets (e.g., payments, identity data) and the ability to see your team's work have an immediate impact at scale. We offer an environment of ownership and speed, where a focused research team can make a significant difference. You will be at the forefront of bridging AI and fintech, shaping how these two critical areas intersect. We are looking for individuals who are eager to stay connected to the edge of AI innovation while ensuring we deliver practical value to our global platform. You will also be a founding member of the San Francisco AI research team, playing a crucial role in its growth and direction.

While this is a San Francisco-based role, we recognize that global mobility matters—especially for candidates navigating complex situations. Adyen has deep roots in Europe and a strong global presence, and we’re open to future relocation conversations to our offices in Amsterdam or Madrid if that better supports your personal or professional goals in the future. Our aim is to build a lasting foundation for you at Adyen—starting in San Francisco, but with the flexibility to adapt as life evolves.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them—voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you’re from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen.

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What’s next?

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

Apply now and lead the charge in building Adyen's AI research presence in San Francisco!