Principal Lead, AI Platform & Solutions

Job Description

Responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY / INTRODUCTION

• To lead the strategic design, architecture, and enterprise build-out of the bank's AI & Agentic Platform capability, ensuring it serves as a trusted, scalable, and governed foundation for AI-driven decisioning, agentic automation, and enterprise knowledge across the Group.
• The role is pivotal in shaping how AI capability is built, integrated, and adopted across business units, partnering with senior business and technology stakeholders to translate the bank's AI ambition into a coherent platform and solution architecture aligned with FAB's digital, agentic, and AI roadmap, regulatory expectations, and Group strategy.
• The role combines deep technical authority on AI platform architecture with the strategic judgement and stakeholder reach required to direct enterprise AI capability across a tier-one bank.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and own the target architecture for the AI & Agentic Platform, covering the agentic runtime, action gateway, control plane, knowledge foundation, model gateway and abstraction, evaluation, and observability layers.
• Set and evolve the cloud architecture for AI workloads across Azure and AWS, including hybrid model serving, inference economics, network and identity design, data residency, and the build-versus-buy positioning across managed services and bank-built capabilities.
• Lead the integration architecture between the AI Platform and the bank's core estate, including core banking, risk and credit systems, treasury and finance platforms, the enterprise data platform (Azure and Cloudera), enterprise APIs, ESB, and identity services.
• Establish and govern the engineering, architectural, and AI engineering standards adopted across the AI Platform team, including reference patterns, agent and tool contracts, runtime governance hooks, evaluation discipline, and integration with model risk.
• Shape FAB's multi-year AI capability direction, including build-versus-buy positioning, foundation model strategy, proprietary capability investment, and platform evolution in response to changes in the agentic AI and regulatory landscape.
• Partner with the Senior, Platform Engineering and Architecture lead in a two-in-a-box operating model, with a clear separation between platform direction, target architecture, and enterprise positioning (this role) and platform engineering execution and run-state.
• Build enterprise AI capability across the Group through reference architectures, standards, communities of practice, internal forums, and direct mentorship of senior engineers and architects across DAAI and the wider technology function.
• Engage business heads and their CIOs across Wholesale Banking, Personal Banking, Private Banking, Treasury, Risk, and Group Finance to shape how AI is integrated into their operating models, beyond individual use cases.
• Represent the AI & Agentic Platforms function in forums with Group Technology, Enterprise Architecture, Cyber, Model Risk, Internal Audit, CBUAE, and external regulators on matters of AI architecture, governance, and trusted agentic operations.
• Manage strategic technology partnerships with hyperscalers, foundation model providers, agentic framework vendors, and SI partners on terms that protect
• FAB's intellectual property, capability, and optionality.
• Represent FAB externally in industry forums, regulator working groups, and peer banks, contributing to the Group's thought leadership on enterprise agentic AI.

REQUIREMENTS / QUALIFICATIONS

Technical Expertise

• Deep, current architectural knowledge of agentic AI systems, including the layered protocol stack (MCP for tool access, A2A for inter-agent coordination, ACP and emerging agentic standards), orchestration frameworks (LangGraph, Google ADK, LlamaIndex, Autogen, CrewAI, or equivalent), planning and reasoning patterns, multi-agent systems, evaluation, observability, and runtime governance.
• Strong working knowledge of foundation model architecture and integration patterns, including managed model APIs (Azure AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI), open-weight model serving, model gateway design, prompt and context management, RAG, fine-tuning, and the cost-quality-latency trade-offs across model selection.
• Cloud architecture fluency on Azure and AWS at enterprise scale, covering networking, identity, data, model serving, inference cost management, and hybrid deployment patterns.
• Proven expertise in integrating AI and data platforms into the core estate of a bank or comparably regulated enterprise, including core banking systems, risk and credit platforms, enterprise data platforms (Azure, Databricks, Cloudera), APIs, ESB, and identity layers.
• Strong grounding in software and platform engineering, with ongoing hands-on credibility in architecture reviews, prototyping, and critical design decisions.

Working knowledge of AI governance, model risk management, and regulatory expectations applicable to AI in financial services, including CBUAE, EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and equivalent global frameworks.

Strategic & Leadership Skills

• Demonstrated ability to influence at executive level, including business heads, Group CTTO / CIO, board-level forums, and external regulators.

Strong stakeholder management across business, technology, risk, audit, and external partner ecosystems.

• Track record of building enterprise capability through standards, communities of practice, and the development of senior engineering and architecture talent.

Ability to navigate ambiguity, manage competing priorities across multiple business units, and translate strategic intent into deliverable platform architecture.

Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to engage equally credibly with engineers, business heads, and regulators.

Minimum Experience

• 12+ years in software, platform, or AI engineering and architecture, with significant time spent at principal, staff, or distinguished engineer / architect level.
• Demonstrated architectural ownership of at least one large-scale AI, data, or platform programme in production at enterprise scale.
• Substantive experience in financial services, banking, or another comparably regulated industry.
• Track record of partnering with executive-level stakeholders across business and technology functions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, or a related quantitative discipline.

Preferred / Beneficial

• Master's degree (MSc / MTech / MEng) in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related discipline preferred.

Relevant professional certifications such as cloud architecture (Azure Solutions Architect Expert, AWS Solutions Architect Professional), TOGAF, or equivalent considered an advantage.

• Doctoral qualification (PhD) in a relevant discipline considered an advantage but not required.

Qualifications

About Us About Us:

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the largest bank in the UAE and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions. We offer a comprehensive range of personal and private banking services, including credit cards, Islamic banking, investments, loans, and mortgages. Our commitment to excellence and innovation drives us to provide top-tier financial solutions to our clients.

Life at FAB:

Working at FAB means being part of a team of talented and passionate individuals with a shared vision to support the ambitions of our stakeholders to "Grow Stronger." We embrace the needs of our customers across the globe with a sense of responsibility and confidence driven by extensive expertise that can only be delivered by an ambitious world-class organization

Career Development:

FAB offers unique career choices, a chance to innovate, craft solutions for the future, and express yourself in a performance-based culture that will unleash the best in you. Whether you are an experienced professional or just starting your career, FAB provides a range of learning and development initiatives to support all employees through training and skill development.

Our Values:

At FAB, we place our customers at the core of our activities, live our values each day in every way, celebrate achievements, and empower each other to deliver leading solutions. We have structured plans for the recruitment and career progression of Emirati talent to enable them to make a mark in the financial and banking sector both regionally and globaly that rewards your hard work and dedication.

Join our team and be part of a journey to shape the future of banking.