Director & Principal Engineer, AI/ML & MLOps Platform

RBC; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus program

Stock options

Flexible benefits

Career development

Collaborative team

Job summary

RBC is seeking a Director & Principal Engineer, AI/ML & MLOps Platform, in Vancouver. The role blends hands‑on engineering with architectural leadership to enable advanced analytics and scalable ML solutions for risk and credit decisioning.

You will lead a team of engineers, define platform directions, and partner with data scientists and IT to deliver impactful, secure data systems at scale across the bank.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience designing and building data‑intensive applications, with 3+ years in a senior technical leadership role.
• Deep expertise in distributed data processing and ML engineering tools/languages (Python, Java/Scala, PySpark/Spark, Kafka, SQL).
• Strong understanding of the ML lifecycle and MLOps, including deployment, monitoring, and CI/CD; real‑time inference in on‑prem and Cloud.
• Proven experience with AWS or Azure, scalable architectures, and IaC (Terraform).
• Excellent communication skills for technical/non‑technical audiences; track record leading high‑impact platforms or products.
• Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering; Master's or PhD preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and delivery of data pipelines, analytics platforms, and ML systems with hands‑on coding (20–30%).
• Set technical direction and promote best practices in data/ML engineering.
• Collaborate with data scientists, business leaders, and IT to translate needs into scalable solutions.
• Mentor engineers and foster a high‑performing, innovative culture.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time with strong data governance and security.

Skills

Python

Java/Scala

PySpark/Spark

Kafka

SQL

MLOps

Cloud platforms

Terraform

CI/CD

Communication

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Master's or PhD preferred

Tools

Terraform

AWS

Azure

SageMaker

Airflow

Kubernetes

Job description

What is the opportunity?

Global Functions Technology (GFT) is part of RBC’s Technology and Operations division. GFT’s impact is far-reaching as we collaborate with partners from across the company to deliver innovative and transformative IT solutions. Our clients represent Risk, Finance, HR, CAO, Audit, Legal, Compliance, Financial Crime, Capital Markets, Personal and Commercial Banking and Wealth Management. We also lead the development of digital tools and platforms to enhance collaboration. In your role, You’ll architect and create systems that directly influence billions in lending decisions, shaping RBC’s competitive edge in financial innovation.

Job Description

We’re seeking a Director & Principal Engineer, AI/ML & MLOps Platform, who brings a unique blend of deep technical expertise and strategic leadership. This is a hands‑on engineering leadership role focused on building and scaling data‑driven systems and platform capabilities that enable advanced analytics, machine learning, and impactful business decisions. You will play a key role in shaping our next‑generation credit decisioning and risk management platform, and lead by example in applying sound architectural thinking, engineering rigor, and technical mentorship. You will manage a team of seasoned engineers to deliver the visions to scale your impacts and pace of development.

What will you do?

• Lead by Doing: Design, build, and review scalable data pipelines, analytics platforms, and ML systems. This is a hands‑on role with end‑to‑end ownership, balancing hands‑on coding (20‑30%) with solution architectural & engineering leadership.
• Set Technical Direction: Define and promote best practices in data and ML engineering. Evaluate emerging technologies and guide adoption to drive innovation.
• Partner Cross‑Functionally: Work closely with data scientists, business leaders, and IT teams to understand needs and translate them into technical solutions. Your first set of prominent goals are to transform the bank’s retail credit decisioning by bringing together a set of platform capabilities to enable our risk experts to scale vertically and horizontally to provide the depth and the breadth for competitive and personalize lending products.
• Mentor and Inspire: Coach engineers and foster a high‑performing, collaborative culture. Champion engineering excellence and team growth. You are not an old fashioned manager that just command, but a role model that cultivates a culture of innovation and high performance, who skillfully inspires the next generation of leaders without micro managing.
• Deliver at Scale: Ensure projects are executed with high quality, on time, and aligned with business goals. Proactively identify risks and enforce compliance standards, especially around data governance and security.

What do you need to succeed?

Must Have:

• 8+ years of experience in designing and building data‑intensive applications, with 3+ years in a senior technical leadership role.
• Deep expertise in modern distributed data processing and ML engineering tools and languages (e.g., Python, Java/Scala, PySpark/Spark, Kafka, SQL, orchestration frameworks).
• Strong understanding of the ML lifecycle and MLOps practices, including model deployment, monitoring, and CI/CD pipelines. Experience with real‑time inference systems in both on‑prem and Cloud.
• Proven experience in cloud platforms like AWS or Azure, with knowledge of scalable architecture patterns, and proficient in IaC (SDK, Terraform)
• Excellent communication skills - able to clearly explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Demonstrated success in leading engineering teams and delivering high‑impact platforms or products.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; Master's or PhD preferred.

Nice to Have:

• Hands‑on experience with AWS SageMaker and related services (Glue, EMR, Lambda, Step Functions, Airflow, CloudWatch).
• Track record of building high‑performing teams (e.g., hiring/retaining top talent, improving team NPS)
• Background in enterprise‑level data governance, privacy, and security practices.

What’s In For You?

We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, commissions, and stock where applicable.
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities
• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high‑performing team
• Opportunities to take on progressively greater accountabilities.
• Access to a variety of job opportunities across business and geographies.

Additional Job Details

Address: 745 THURLOW ST:VANCOUVER

City: Vancouver

Country: Canada

Work hours/week: 37.5

Employment Type: Full time

Platform: TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONS

Job Type: Regular

Pay Type: Salaried

Posted Date: 2026-07-28

Application Deadline: 2026-08-31

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above

Our Employment Opportunities

At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.

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Job Skills

Active Learning, Agile Methodology, Decision Making, Emerging Technologies, Enterprise Application Delivery, Group Problem Solving, Long Term Planning, Programming Languages, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)