Senior Lead AI Engineer, AI Foundations, VLM Customization

Capital One

Senior Lead AI Engineer building foundation models, inference, and optimization systems. Advancing responsible AI infrastructure for Capital One’s banking products and customers.

Posted 9/3/2026full-timeNew York City • California, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $229,900 - $286,200 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates expertise in developing and deploying AI-powered solutions, with a strong focus on large language model optimization, scalability, and cloud-based AI systems. Proven ability to lead engineering teams and influence cross-functional collaboration while staying current with AI research and technologies.

Highest-signal resume keywords

AI Software DevelopmentLarge Language Model InferencePython ProgrammingCloud Platform DeploymentTeam Leadership

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

AI AlgorithmsMachine Learning TechnologiesModel EvaluationOptimization TechniquesSimilarity SearchVectorDBsNeMo GuardrailsC++ ProgrammingJava ProgrammingGo Programming

Soft Skills

Excellent CommunicationPresentation Skills

Tools & Technologies

AWS UltraclustersHugging FacePyTorchSaaS AI Technologies

Industry Keywords

AI SystemsGovernanceObservabilityFoundation Model TrainingScalabilityCost OptimizationLatency ImprovementThroughput Enhancement

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSC++CloudGoJavaPythonPyTorchScala

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Partner with engineers, research scientists, technical program managers, and product managers to deliver AI-powered products
Design, develop, test, deploy, and support AI software components
Work on foundation model training, large language model inference, similarity search, guardrails, model evaluation, experimentation, governance, and observability
Leverage open-source and SaaS AI technologies including AWS Ultraclusters, Hugging Face, VectorDBs, NeMo Guardrails, and PyTorch
Invent and introduce state-of-the-art LLM optimization techniques
Improve scalability, cost, latency, and throughput of large-scale production AI systems
Contribute to the technical vision and long-term roadmap of foundational AI systems at Capital One

Requirements

What you’ll need

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 in those fields plus at least 4 years of such experience
At least 6 years of experience programming with Python, Go, Scala, or Java
7 years of experience deploying scalable and responsible AI solutions on cloud platforms preferred
Experience designing, developing, integrating, delivering, and supporting complex AI systems preferred
Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor an engineering team and influence cross-functional stakeholders preferred
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 preferred
Experience developing and applying state-of-the-art techniques for optimizing training and inference software preferred
Passion for staying abreast of the latest AI research and AI systems and applying novel techniques in production preferred
Excellent communication and presentation skills preferred

Benefits

Comp & perks

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 supporting total well-being
Employment authorization sponsorship consideration for a new qualified applicant
Reasonable accommodations for applicants who require them
Equal opportunity and non-discrimination commitment
Drug-free workplace