Principal AI Engineer

General Function

The Principal AI Engineer architects and implements artificial intelligence and machine learning systems that address diverse business challenges throughout the Bank. This role involves conducting rigorous data analysis, performing statistical evaluation, designing experimental frameworks, and developing algorithms that effectively leverage both structured and unstructured data. The AI Engineer creates solutions that range from on-demand analytics to fully integrated software systems, working closely with cross-functional teams to align technical solutions with business requirements.

Responsible and accountable for risk by openly exchanging ideas and opinions, elevating concerns, and personally following policies and procedures as defined. Accountable for always doing the right thing for customers and colleagues and ensures that actions and behaviors drive a positive customer experience. While operating within the Bank's risk appetite, achieves results by consistently identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting risks of all types.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

AI Development and Implementation

• Design, develop, and implement AI and machine learning systems that address specific business challenges and deliver measurable value.
• Create and maintain model documentation, ensuring transparency in methodologies and approaches.
• Research, test, and apply state-of-the-art generative AI models and/or solutions for potential use.
• Develop agentic AI systems capable of autonomous reasoning, planning, and tool utilization for complex task completion.
• Create comprehensive evaluation frameworks to assess model performance, detect hallucinations, and ensure output quality.
• Stay current with emerging AI/ML technologies, frameworks, and methodologies.
• Contribute to establishing best practices for AI development and deployment.
• Sets enterprise-wide technical standards by defining reference architectures, chairing design reviews, and approving model lifecycle gates (e.g., data sourcing, bias audits, drift monitoring).

Analytics and Insights

• Extract meaningful patterns and insights from complex, multi-dimensional data sets.
• Apply advanced analytics including predictive modeling, machine learning, and optimization techniques.
• Translate business questions into well-defined analytical problems with clear objectives
• Design and execute experiments with statistically valid methodologies and evaluation criteria.
• Develop specialized analytics for banking-specific use cases while maintaining compliance with financial regulations.

Collaboration and Communication

• Leads projects or processes with limited supervision, applying advanced knowledge to solve complex problems and coach or review the work of lower-level professionals.
• Acts as a resource for colleagues, influencing technical direction and standards across multiple products or platforms.
• Drives cross-team technical initiatives and mentors Lead Engineers, ensuring integration, scalability, and compliance across multiple products and platforms.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to understand business requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Effectively communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Present findings, recommendations, and insights to business teams in accessible formats.
• Collaborate with software engineers, cloud engineers, data engineers, and data scientists to integrate AI solutions into existing systems and products.
• Work with compliance and security teams to ensure AI systems meet banking regulatory requirements.

Minimum Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science, Mathematics, or related technical field; Advanced degree preferred but not required.
• 6+ years of experience developing and deploying machine learning or AI solutions in production environments.

Technical Skills

• Strong programming skills with proficiency in Python; familiarity with JavaScript and SQL.
• Expertise in generative AI techniques including prompt engineering, fine-tuning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), evaluation frameworks, tool integration, and agentic system design.
• Experience with cloud computing platforms (AWS preferred, specifically Bedrock, Sagemaker, Lex, etc.).
• Skilled in data visualization and storytelling, effectively communicating complex analytical insights in clear, actionable formats for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience with machine learning frameworks (PyTorch, scikit-learn, Hugging Face).
• Practical knowledge of deep learning, neural networks, and traditional ML algorithms.
• Familiarity with model optimization techniques including quantization and distillation.
• Knowledge of AI orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex, MCPs, etc.)

Engineering Practices

• Proficiency with version control systems (Git/GitHub)
• Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
• Experience with containerization and Infrastructure as Code (Docker, Terraform)
• Knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and software design principles
• Experience designing observability systems for AI applications

Business and Soft Skills

• Communicates clearly and builds consensus across teams
• Mentors colleagues and promotes knowledge sharing
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities
• Ability to manage time effectively and prioritize competing demands
• Self-motivated with demonstrated capacity to work independently
• Experience working in Agile environments
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Understanding of ethical considerations in AI deployment

Position not available for immigration sponsorship.

Must be willing to relocate to Cincinnati, OH.

Benefits

Fifth Third, we understand the importance of recognizing our employees for the role they play in improving the lives of our customers, communities and each other. Our Total Rewards include comprehensive benefits and differentiated compensation offerings to give each employee the opportunity to be their best every day.

The base salary for this position is reflective of the range of salary levels for all roles within this pay grade across the U.S. Individual salaries within this range will vary based on factors such as role, relevant skillset, relevant experience, education and geographic location. In addition to the base salary, this role is eligible to participate in an incentive compensation plan, with any such payment based upon company, line of business and/or individual performance.

Our extensive benefits programs are designed to support the individual needs of our employees and their families, encompassing physical, financial, emotional and social well-being.You can learn more about those programs on our 53.com Careers page at: https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/careers/benefits.html or by consulting with your talent acquisition partner.