Lead Applied AI Engineer

The Cognitive AI Solutions team is building the next generation of agentic AI and process intelligence capabilities for the firm. As our platform matures, partner organizations across the bank are engaging with us to bring advanced AI directly to their highest-impact business problems. We are seeking a Lead Applied AI Engineer to partner with a business organization (such as banking operations, complaints, or wholesale operations) to design, build, and ship AI capabilities for one of the bank's most important production domains. This is a hands-on engineering role with significant scope. You will work at the intersection of two organizations: partnering closely with the business domain team, while remaining part of the Cognitive AI Solutions engineering bench. You will be the technical engine that brings our platform capabilities and state-of-the-art models into a high-impact business domain, driving measurable outcomes. What You'll Do Partner with the business organization to understand their workflows, data, and operational touchpoints, and identify where advanced AI can deliver measurable improvements. Design and build AI capabilities for the partner domain, applying state-of-the-art techniques, including transformer-based models and foundation models for sequential and transactional data. Ship and own models in production, integrating platform components into the partner domain, contributing improvements back to the platform team, and ensuring deployed systems meet the bank's reliability, security, and compliance standards. Build evaluation, observability, and guardrail systems—production AI requires rigorous testing, monitoring, and behavioral controls. You will own these for the systems you ship. Collaborate across the data and modeling application boundary—deploying models within the modeling environment while consuming data and context from the regulated data platform. Translate technical progress into presentable outcomes—supporting partner stakeholder reviews and Cognitive AI Solutions executive demos as needed. Required Qualifications 5+ years of Specialty Software Engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education 5+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years applying machine learning or AI to production systems. Desired Qualifications Hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning models, including transformer-based architectures or foundation models, in a production environment. Strong full-stack software engineering skills—comfortable across data, models, services, and integration; able to ship end-to-end. Solid understanding of modern AI evaluation, observability, and guardrails for production deployment. Excellent collaboration, technical communication, and problem-solving skills, with a track record of shipping software that touches real users in real production environments. Prior experience in financial services applications (e.g., banking operations, complaints, wholesale operations) or comparable regulated enterprise domains. Experience working under Model Risk Management or compliance governance for production AI deployment. Experience working with large-scale transactional or sequential data. Experience working in a partner-facing engineering engagement model with business organizations. Job Expectations and Core Values: Be Humble: You're smart yet always interested in learning from others. Work Transparently: You always deal in an honest, direct, and transparent way. Take Ownership: You embrace responsibility and find joy in having the answers. Learn More: You regularly self-educate and improve your skill set. Show Gratitude: You show appreciation and respect to those you work with. Pay Range Reflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities. $159,000.00 - $305,000.00 Benefits Wells Fargo provides eligible employees with a comprehensive set of benefits, many of which are listed below. Visit Benefits - Wells Fargo Jobs for an overview of the following benefit plans and programs offered to employees. Health benefits 401(k) Plan Paid time off Disability benefits Life insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance Parental leave Critical caregiving leave Discounts and savings Commuter benefits Tuition reimbursement Scholarships for dependent children Adoption reimbursement Posting End Date: 31 May 2026 *Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants. We Value Equal Opportunity Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic. Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit’s risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements. Applicants with Disabilities To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo. Drug and Alcohol Policy Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more. Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements: a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo. b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process. #DNP-IND Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $2.1 trillion in assets. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 33 on Fortune’s 2025 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. Additional information may be found at: wellsfargo.com wellsfargojobs.com For questions on how to search and apply, visit frequently asked questions.