VP, Principal AI/ML Engineer

Bank OZK•Dallas, TX

About The Position

The VP, Principal AI/ML Engineer leads the architecture, implementation, and monitoring of scalable, production-grade generative AI foundational and large language models (LLMs) and agentic AI solutions. The role ensures alignment with organizational goals and measurable business outcomes, manages a multidisciplinary team, fosters enterprise-wide innovation, and drives knowledge-base parity and proof-of-concept development between Bank OZK and the industry. The position enables the enterprise AI strategy and ensures that deployed solutions align with business objectives, regulatory requirements, security, and responsible-use standards. It collaborates with senior engineers, product managers, and research scientists to deliver enterprise-grade AI solutions, while monitoring advances in AI/ML research and tools to guide ongoing development and strategic direction.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Data Science, or a related field, or commensurate work experience.
At least 6 years of experience in AI/ML engineering or applied AI system development.
Comprehensive knowledge of model fine-tuning and optimization techniques, distributed systems and microservices architecture, and machine learning fundamentals.
Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to translate business challenges into technical solutions.
Effective collaboration and communication skills across cross-functional teams.
Proficient skill with agentic AI orchestration tools such as LangGraph, AutoGen, and Camunda.
Strong organizational, critical-thinking, and time-management skills.
Proficient skill in Python and Java for AI application development.
Advanced skills in LLMs, NLP, and generative AI applications.
Skill with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
Skill with SQL, NoSQL, and vector databases.
Ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise discretion and sound judgment in technical decision-making.
Ability to work with minimal or no supervision.
Ability to manage multiple projects or assignments and demonstrate flexibility in a continually changing environment.
Ability to build scalable microservices and RAG systems.
Ability to operate customary business-environment equipment and technology, with or without accommodation.

Responsibilities

Architect, design, and deploy LLM-based and agentic AI systems at scale, using technologies such as GPT-4/5, LLaMA, Mistral, and Gemini.
Develop and maintain retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and agentic workflows using tools such as LangGraph, AutoGen, Milvus, Pinecone, or Weaviate.
Build cloud-native, scalable microservices to support AI applications in production environments.
Implement AI-powered applications using Python and Java, maintaining robust and maintainable codebases.
Support data ingestion, preprocessing, and prompt tuning for model development.
Implement leadership strategy for deploying, monitoring, versioning, and scaling AI systems on cloud platforms.
Enable and advocate the enterprise AI strategy, aligning it with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and ethical standards.
Collaborate with senior engineers, product managers, and research scientists to deliver enterprise-grade AI solutions.
Ensure compliance, security, and responsible use of AI technologies across deployed solutions.
Monitor advancements in AI/ML research and tools to inform development and strategic direction.
Manage a multidisciplinary team and foster enterprise innovation.
Drive knowledge-base parity and proof-of-concept development between Bank OZK and the industry.
Perform other duties as assigned.