Lead AI Engineer

About the role

About The Company

At Capital One, we are committed to transforming the banking industry through innovative and responsible AI systems. With a long-standing reputation as an industry leader in leveraging machine learning, we strive to create real-time, personalized customer experiences that simplify banking and enhance customer satisfaction. Our significant investments in advanced technology infrastructure and attracting world-class talent position us at the forefront of enterprise AI adoption. Our applications range from alerting customers about unusual charges to providing instant answers to their queries, all aimed at making banking more human and accessible. We are dedicated to building world-class applied science and engineering teams that deliver cutting-edge capabilities, breakthrough products, and scalable, high-performance AI infrastructure. Join us to help harness the transformative power of emerging AI technologies to reimagine how we serve our customers and support our business objectives.

About The Role

The Lead AI Engineer (FM Hosting, LLM Inference) will play a pivotal role within our AI and machine learning engineering teams. Reporting to senior leadership, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and deploying advanced AI solutions that drive innovation across Capital One’s banking services. This position involves collaborating with cross-functional teams—including engineers, research scientists, product managers, and technical program managers—to create AI-powered products that enhance operational efficiency and customer engagement. You will work on foundational AI systems, focusing on large language model inference, foundation model training, similarity search, guardrails, and observability, ensuring these systems are scalable, cost-effective, and performant. Your expertise will contribute to shaping the technical vision and long-term roadmap of our AI infrastructure, ensuring responsible and scalable deployment of AI solutions that align with our strategic goals. This role offers a unique opportunity to lead the development of state-of-the-art AI systems, applying innovative optimization techniques to improve latency, throughput, and hardware utilization, ultimately transforming how banking services are delivered.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 4 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies

Master’s degree in relevant fields plus at least 2 years of experience in AI/ML development

Minimum of 4 years programming experience with Python, Go, Scala, or Java

Experience deploying scalable AI solutions on cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure is preferred

Strong foundation in engineering and mathematics, with expertise in hardware, software, and AI optimization techniques

Familiarity with open-source AI tools and SaaS platforms like Huggingface, PyTorch, Nemo Guardrails, VectorDBs, and AWS Ultraclusters

Proven ability to stay current with the latest AI research and judiciously apply new techniques in production environments

Responsibilities

Partner with cross-functional teams to develop AI-powered products that improve customer experience and operational efficiency

Design, implement, test, and support AI software components including foundation model training, large language model inference, similarity search, and governance tools

Leverage a broad stack of open-source and SaaS AI technologies to build scalable, responsible AI systems

Innovate and introduce state-of-the-art optimization techniques to enhance the performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency of large-scale AI systems

Contribute to the technical vision and strategic roadmap for foundational AI systems at Capital One

Ensure AI solutions adhere to governance, ethical standards, and observability best practices

Identify and resolve complex technical challenges related to AI model deployment and performance

Benefits

Competitive salary aligned with experience and location

Performance-based incentive compensation, including cash bonuses and long-term incentives

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans

Retirement savings plans with employer contributions

Generous paid time off and holiday leave

Professional development opportunities and continuous learning support

Inclusive work environment promoting diversity and equal opportunity

Equal Opportunity

Capital One is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and ensure fair hiring practices in compliance with applicable laws. We also support reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities throughout the application and employment process. Join us to be part of a forward-thinking organization that values innovation, integrity, and diversity.