Sr. Lead AI Engineer

The Intelligent Foundations and Experiences (IFX) team at Capital One is building responsible, reliable AI systems that support how associates work and how customers interact with the bank. In this Sr. Lead AI Engineer role, you will help design, develop, deploy, and optimize foundational AI and LLM software components while shaping the technical direction and roadmap.

What You’ll Do

• Collaborate with cross-functional partners including engineers, research scientists, technical program managers, and product managers to deliver AI-powered products that impact associate workflows and customer experiences.
• Design, develop, test, deploy, and support AI software components such as foundation model training, large language model inference, similarity search, guardrails, model evaluation, experimentation, governance, and observability.
• Apply a broad stack of Open Source and SaaS AI technologies, including AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, VectorDBs, Nemo Guardrails, PyTorch, and related tooling.
• Develop state-of-the-art LLM optimization techniques to improve production performance across scalability, cost, latency, and throughput.
• Contribute to the technical vision and long-term roadmap for foundational AI systems at Capital One.

Required Qualifications

• Education: A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields plus at least 6 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies, or a Master's degree plus at least 4 years of experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies.
• At least 6 years of experience programming with Python, Go, Scala, or Java.
• At least 7 years of experience deploying scalable and responsible AI solutions on cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or an equivalent private cloud.
• Experience designing, developing, integrating, delivering, and supporting complex AI systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor an engineering team and influence cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience developing AI and ML algorithms or technologies including LLM inference, similarity search and VectorDBs, guardrails, and memory using Python, C++, C#, Java, or Golang.
• Experience developing and applying state-of-the-art techniques for optimizing training and inference software to improve hardware utilization, latency, throughput, and cost.
• Strong interest in staying current with AI research and AI systems, and applying novel techniques in production with judgment.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to explain complex AI concepts to peers.

Technologies and Skills

Experience with AWS Ultraclusters, Huggingface, VectorDBs, Nemo Guardrails, PyTorch, and cloud platforms including AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Programming languages include Python, Go, Scala, Java, C++, C#, and Golang. Core areas include foundation model training, large language model inference, similarity search, guardrails, model evaluation, experimentation, governance, and observability.

Team Overview

The Intelligent Foundations and Experiences (IFX) team is central to bringing Capital One’s AI vision to life. The team works closely with partners across the company to advance state-of-the-art science and AI engineering and to build and deploy proprietary solutions that support business value for millions of customers. IFX develops AI models and platforms that enable teams across Capital One to enhance products with responsible, scalable AI for high-leverage impact.

Compensation and Location

• Location: McLean, VA (onsite)
• Base salary: USD 229,900 - 262,400 per year

Additional listed ranges for other locations include: New York, NY (USD 250,800 - 286,200), San Jose, CA (USD 250,800 - 286,200). A separate range is also listed as USD 209,000 - 238,500 for Sr. Lead AI Engineer.

Benefits

• Performance-based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long-term incentives (LTI).
• Comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive health, financial, and other benefits to support total well-being.

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