Principal Machine Learning Engineer

Company: Paylocity
Location: Schaumburg
Posted on: February 19, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description Description: Paylocity is an award-winning provider of cloud-based HR and payroll software solutions, offering the most complete platform for the modern workforce. The company has become one of the fastest-growing HCM software providers worldwide by offering an intuitive, easy-to-use product suite that helps businesses automate and streamline HR and payroll processes, attract and retain talent, and build a strong workplace culture. While traditional HR and payroll providers automate basic HR processes such as payroll and benefits administration, Paylocity goes further by developing tools that HR and businesses need to compete for talent and deliver against the expectations of the modern workforce. We give our employees what they need to succeed, including great benefits and perks! We offer medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and a 401(k) match, as well as perks that support you, your family, and your finances. And if it’s career development you desire, we provide that, too! At Paylocity, people matter most and have always been at the heart of our business. Help Paylocity enhance communication and enable employees to connect, collaborate, and create from anywhere with a position in Product & Technology! Want to develop the strategies and principles needed to deliver compelling software? Join our team and help us enhance our all-in-one software platform, elevate our one-of-a-kind technology, and improve the employee experience. Take your career to the next level at one of G2's Top 100 Software Companies. Explore our Product & Technology positions to see where you fit! This is a fully remote position, allowing you to work from home or location of record within the U.S. with no in-office requirements. You must be available five days per week during designated work hours. The work arrangement for this role is subject to change based on business needs and individual performance. This may include adjustments to on-site requirements. Principal Machine Learning Engineer Position Overview Paylocity is growing its Machine Learning Engineering organization! Our machine learning engineering team is responsible for developing infrastructure and tooling to help enable data driven decisions and insights at scale for millions of Paylocity users. Our team is: Building infrastructure that can power ML and AI features for millions of users Building and deploying platform-wide recommendations to help companies follow HR best practices and allow employees to get the most out of our platform (Paylocity AI page) Baking AI Ethics into all our processes as a first-class citizen (Blog Post) Working in a collaborative fully remote environment with a desire to share ideas and continuously improve Invested in staying current in machine learning engineering by applying the newest tools, technologies, and practices Excited to work on cutting-edge technology! Primary Responsibilities The below represents the primary duties of the position, others may be assigned as needed. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Design, architect, and build robust machine learning platforms and foundational infrastructure that empower data science and engineering teams to develop, deploy, and scale advanced AI solutions. Develop and optimize reusable services, frameworks, and automation pipelines to streamline the end-to-end lifecycle of machine learning models, from experimentation through production deployment and monitoring. Lead the evaluation, selection, and integration of cutting-edge big data and AI technologies (e.g., Databricks, Spark, cloud-native ML services) to ensure the platform remains scalable, secure, and future-proof. Drive the adoption and implementation of large language models (LLMs) and agentic AI frameworks, enabling innovation and autonomous capabilities across the organization through platform extensibility. Create and maintain shared APIs, SDKs, and tools that allow internal teams to seamlessly integrate machine learning and AI features into products and services. Partner with Product Managers, Enterprise Architects, and technical leaders to translate organizational and business requirements into scalable platform solutions and technical roadmaps. Mentor and guide engineering and data science teams in leveraging platform capabilities, promoting best practices in model development, deployment, and monitoring. Serve as a technical thought leader, proactively identifying emerging trends and opportunities in AI infrastructure, and driving innovation to keep the platform at the forefront of the industry. Establish and enforce organization-wide standards for model management, versioning, monitoring, and observability to ensure high-quality, reliable AI solutions at scale. Lead architecture reviews and technical planning sessions, ensuring alignment of platform initiatives with business objectives and evolving market needs. Communicate technical vision, strategy, and platform capabilities effectively to executive leadership and cross-functional teams, fostering buy-in and collaboration. Proactively identify, address, and communicate technical challenges and risks impacting platform health, scalability, and security, driving continuous improvement and technical excellence. Education and Experience The below represents the primary duties of the position, others may be assigned as needed. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Bachelor’s degree with 12 years of demonstrated machine learning success or similar experience; or, advanced degree (master’s or PhD) in data science, computer science, engineering, statistics, mathematics or other quantitative field, with 5 years of demonstrated data science success or similar experience. Experience in writing production grade machine learning models in Python Deep understanding of distributed systems, architecture, and scalability Proven experience successfully executing organization-wide technical initiatives Demonstrated experience with cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) Demonstrated ability to leverage machine learning to drive business results Skilled at translating business problems into data science problems and communicating the results to non-technical audiences Able to work in a collaborative environment with a desire to share your ideas Able to work independently and complete tasks with high quality, but unafraid to seek out suggestions from other team members Self-motivated, adaptable, and highly detail oriented Preferred Skills: Professional or academic experience in HR, social science or psychology Significant experience with cloud development and infrastructure-as-code (IAC) tools such as Pulumi, Terraform, AWS CDK Be invested in staying current in data science by applying new technologies and practices Physical requirements Ability to sit for extended periods: The role requires sitting at a desk or workstation for long periods, typically 7-8 hours a day. Use of computer and phone systems: The employee must be able to operate a computer, use phone systems, and type. This includes using multiple software programs and inquiries simultaneously. Paylocity is an equal-opportunity employer. Paylocity is committed to the full inclusion of all individuals. We recruit, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law. At Paylocity, we believe diversity makes us better. We embrace and encourage our employees’ differences in age, culture, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our employees unique. We actively cultivate these differences through our employee resource groups (ERGs), employee experiences, perspectives, talents, and approaches to drive innovation in the software and services we provide our customers. We comply with federal and state disability laws and make reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. To request reasonable accommodation in the job application or interview process, please contact LeaveBenefits@paylocity.com . This email address is exclusively designated for such requests, aligning with federal and state disability laws. Please do not send resumes to this email address, as they will be removed. The pay range for this position is $177,500 - $329,600 /yr; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This position is eligible for an annual bonus and restricted stock unit grant based on individual performance in addition to a full range of benefits outlined here. This information is provided per the relevant state and local pay transparency laws for the location in which this position will be performed. Base pay information is based on market location. Applicants should apply via www.paylocity.com/careers. LIRemote Requirements:

Keywords: Paylocity, Carol Stream , Principal Machine Learning Engineer, IT / Software / Systems , Schaumburg, Illinois