AI Engineer

About The Company
At Capital One, we are dedicated to creating responsible and reliable AI systems that are transforming banking for good. As an industry leader in machine learning, we have a long history of leveraging technology to deliver real-time, personalized customer experiences. Our significant investments in technology infrastructure and world-class talent, combined with deep expertise in machine learning, position us at the forefront of enterprises harnessing the power of AI. From alerting customers about unusual charges to providing real-time answers to their inquiries, our AI and ML applications bring humanity and simplicity to banking. We are committed to building world-class applied science and engineering teams that deliver industry-leading capabilities, breakthrough product experiences, and scalable, high-performance AI infrastructure. At Capital One, you will help unlock the transformative power of emerging AI technologies to reimagine how we serve our customers and businesses who rely on our products and services.
About The Role
The Staff AI Engineer will be a key contributor on the Intelligent Foundations and Experiences (IFX) team, which is central to realizing Capital One’s AI vision. This role involves close collaboration with cross-functional teams including engineers, research scientists, program managers, and product managers to develop AI-powered products that enhance how associates work and improve customer interactions. You will design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain AI software components encompassing foundation model training, large language model inference, multi-agent workflows, similarity search, guardrails, model evaluation, experimentation, governance, and observability. Utilizing a broad stack of open source and SaaS AI technologies such as AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, VectorDBs, and PyTorch, you will invent and implement state-of-the-art foundation model optimization techniques to improve scalability, cost-efficiency, latency, and throughput of large-scale AI systems. Additionally, you will contribute to the technical vision and long-term roadmap for foundational AI systems, set enterprise-wide AI architecture standards, and champion responsible AI principles including transparency, reproducibility, and fairness. This role also involves mentoring and driving internal education through architecture councils and AI guilds.
Qualifications
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 8 years of experience in AI/ML algorithm or technology development, or a Master's degree plus at least 6 years of experience
At least 8 years of programming experience using Python, Go, Scala, CUDA, or Java
Experience designing AI systems with tradeoff decisions around cost, latency, throughput, and accuracy
8 years of experience deploying scalable and responsible AI solutions on cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or equivalent private cloud
Proven expertise in architecting, designing, developing, integrating, delivering, and supporting complex AI systems
Demonstrated leadership and mentorship experience across multiple engineering teams and ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders up to the VP level
Experience developing AI/ML algorithms or technologies (e.g., LLM inference, similarity search, VectorDBs, guardrails, memory) using Python, C++, C#, Java, CUDA, or Golang
Proficiency in optimizing training and inference software for improved hardware utilization, latency, throughput, and cost
Experience building agentic AI systems and agentic workflows
Strong passion for staying current with the latest AI research and applying novel techniques in production environments
Excellent communication and presentation skills, capable of articulating complex AI concepts clearly
Track record of defining and operationalizing enterprise AI architecture standards including data pipeline governance, observability, and evaluation frameworks
Experience leading federated or multi-cloud AI strategies to optimize resilience, compliance, and compute efficiency
Proven ability to influence research-to-production promotion processes, guiding model handoff, evaluation, and productization
Experience defining north-star metrics for AI systems balancing business value, innovation velocity, cost, and ethical responsibility
Expertise in right-sizing models, instance counts, and hardware types based on requirements such as context length and token inputs/outputs
Responsibilities
Partner with cross-functional teams including engineers, research scientists, technical program managers, and product managers to deliver AI-powered products that transform work processes and customer experiences
Design, develop, test, deploy, and support AI software components such as foundation model training, large language model inference, multi-agent workflows, similarity search, guardrails, model evaluation, experimentation, governance, and observability
Utilize a broad stack of open source and SaaS AI technologies including AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, VectorDBs, PyTorch, among others
Invent and implement advanced foundation model optimization techniques to enhance performance, scalability, cost-efficiency, latency, and throughput of production AI systems
Contribute to the technical vision and long-term roadmap for foundational AI systems at Capital One
Set technical direction for enterprise-wide AI architecture, unifying tooling, observability, and deployment standards across teams
Own design and integration of model routing, caching, and orchestration systems supporting hybrid and multi-model workloads
Champion responsible AI principles throughout system design, embedding transparency, reproducibility, and fairness-by-design
Drive internal education, mentorship, and dissemination of best practices through architecture councils and AI guilds
Benefits
Competitive salary ranges based on location, with performance-based incentive compensation including cash bonuses and/or long-term incentives
Comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive health, financial, and other benefits supporting total well-being
Opportunities for professional growth and development within a leading AI-driven financial services company
Supportive and innovative work environment focused on responsible AI and ethical technology development
Access to cutting-edge AI technologies and infrastructure
Equal Opportunity
Capital One is an equal opportunity employer committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. We promote a drug-free workplace and consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. We provide reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities during the hiring process. Capital One values diversity and inclusion and encourages candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

Skills
Python, Java, C++, C#, Golang, AWS, Azure

Experience
8+ yrs

Work arrangement
Yes