Director - AI Platform Engineering and Strategy for Commercial Lending

NatWest Group; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 3,500,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Job summary

NatWest Group in Bengaluru seeks a Director-level Lending AI Platform Lead to own end-to-end strategy, architecture, engineering and execution of Matrix-based AI platform for lending journeys and risk controls.

You will drive strategy, architecture, build, testing, implementation and lifecycle management, collaborating with senior stakeholders to ensure regulatory compliance and scalable AI capabilities across the organisation.

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading the strategy, architecture, engineering and delivery of large-scale AI/platform capabilities.
• Deep expertise in platform architecture, distributed systems, cloud-native engineering.
• Experience designing, building and operating agentic AI platforms with governance controls.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic vision and roadmap for the Commercial Lending AI Platform, ensuring alignment with business priorities, technology strategy and emerging AI innovation
• Own the architecture and engineering strategy for Matrix and the wider AI platform ecosystem, establishing scalable, secure, resilient and reusable platform capabilities that accelerate AI adoption across Lending
• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise-grade agentic AI platform capabilities, including orchestration frameworks, agent lifecycle management, model integration, tool integration, retrieval architectures, governance controls, observability, evaluation frameworks and operational controls
• Drive engineering excellence across the platform, establishing modern software engineering practices, platform engineering disciplines, automation, reliability engineering and operational excellence at scale
• Oversee the full execution lifecycle, including architecture, engineering, build, testing, implementation, platform operations, risk management and continuous optimisation
• Collaborate closely with senior business stakeholders, product owners, architects and engineering leaders to translate business outcomes into scalable technology solutions
• Embed a strong risk, security and responsible AI culture, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, internal standards and AI governance frameworks
• Own the platform's financial, commercial and operational performance, proactively driving continuous improvement and reporting through executive governance forums
• Optimising the scheduling and sequencing of initiatives and achieving agreed targets for delivery, platform adoption, engineering quality, risk and cost outcomes
• Leading large multidisciplinary engineering, platform and architecture teams responsible for the delivery and operation of critical AI services and capabilities
• Delivering, owning and maintaining the operational stability, availability, performance, scalability and resilience of AI platforms, infrastructure, frameworks and associated tooling
• Ensuring business solutions are aligned to customer needs, business outcomes and enterprise technology strategy, while promoting simplification, standardisation and reuse
• Establishing reusable platform services, standards, frameworks, controls and engineering patterns that accelerate AI delivery across multiple domains
• Owning the financial, commercial and flow performance of the platform and proactively tracking, reporting and acting to drive improvements
• Representing the platform and technology strategy at executive forums, influencing senior stakeholders across business, technology, risk and architecture communities

Skills

AI Platform Leadership

Cloud-Native Engineering

Enterprise Architecture

Platform Engineering

Stakeholder Leadership

Job description

Lending AI Platform Lead, Director

We’re undertaking a major Commercial Lending transformation over the next 3 to 4 years, centred on building Matrix, our strategic agentic AI platform that will power the next generation of lending journeys, colleague experiences, intelligent decisioning and broader bank technology capabilities. We are seeking an experienced AI Platform Lead to own the end-to-end strategy, architecture, engineering and execution of this critical capability. In this role you will lead the strategy, architecture, engineering, build, testing, implementation, risk, security, resilience, operational excellence, simplification, efficiency, service management, and lifecycle management of these AI platforms, while creating the technology foundations that enable enterprise-scale agentic AI solutions. We are looking for an established technology leader to be accountable for the design, build, operation and evolution of all foundational AI platform capabilities across Lending, with Matrix at the core. This role will establish the engineering foundations, governance, controls, and reusable capabilities required to scale AI safely and effectively across the organisation. Hone your existing skills and be part of an innovative and collaborative team culture. We're offering the role at Director level.

What you'll do

In this high-impact role, you will:

• Lead the strategic vision and roadmap for the Commercial Lending AI Platform, ensuring alignment with business priorities, technology strategy and emerging AI innovation
• Own the architecture and engineering strategy for Matrix and the wider AI platform ecosystem, establishing scalable, secure, resilient and reusable platform capabilities that accelerate AI adoption across Lending
• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise-grade agentic AI platform capabilities, including orchestration frameworks, agent lifecycle management, model integration, tool integration, retrieval architectures, governance controls, observability, evaluation frameworks and operational controls
• Drive engineering excellence across the platform, establishing modern software engineering practices, platform engineering disciplines, automation, reliability engineering and operational excellence at scale
• Oversee the full execution lifecycle, including architecture, engineering, build, testing, implementation, platform operations, risk management and continuous optimisation
• Collaborate closely with senior business stakeholders, product owners, architects and engineering leaders to translate business outcomes into scalable technology solutions
• Embed a strong risk, security and responsible AI culture, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, internal standards and AI governance frameworks
• Own the platform's financial, commercial and operational performance, proactively driving continuous improvement and reporting through executive governance forums

You’ll also be responsible for

• Optimising the scheduling and sequencing of initiatives and achieving agreed targets for delivery, platform adoption, engineering quality, risk and cost outcomes
• Leading large multidisciplinary engineering, platform and architecture teams responsible for the delivery and operation of critical AI services and capabilities
• Delivering, owning and maintaining the operational stability, availability, performance, scalability and resilience of AI platforms, infrastructure, frameworks and associated tooling
• Ensuring business solutions are aligned to customer needs, business outcomes and enterprise technology strategy, while promoting simplification, standardisation and reuse
• Establishing reusable platform services, standards, frameworks, controls and engineering patterns that accelerate AI delivery across multiple domains
• Owning the financial, commercial and flow performance of the platform and proactively tracking, reporting and acting to drive improvements
• Representing the platform and technology strategy at executive forums, influencing senior stakeholders across business, technology, risk and architecture communities

The skills you'll need

We are looking for a leader who brings:

• Significant experience leading the strategy, architecture, engineering and delivery of large-scale AI, platform or cloud-native technology capabilities within complex enterprise environments
• Deep expertise in platform architecture, distributed systems, cloud-native engineering, modern software engineering practices and enterprise-scale technology operations
• Demonstrable experience designing, building and operating agentic AI platforms, including orchestration frameworks, agent architectures, LLM ecosystems, model integration patterns, governance controls and operational capabilities
• A proven track record of building foundational technology platforms that are consumed by multiple engineering teams and business domains
• Strong architectural leadership with the ability to define long-term platform strategy while remaining technically credible with senior engineers, architects and technology leaders
• Experience building highly resilient, secure and regulated technology platforms, ideally within financial services or similarly regulated industries
• Strong commercial acumen and the ability to translate complex business challenges into scalable technical solutions and platform capabilities
• Proven leadership skills, including Agile and servant leadership, with a track record of delivering transformational technology programmes through complex governance environments
• Expertise in risk management, financial oversight, stakeholder engagement and executive-level collaboration
• A passion for innovation and a commitment to building foundational AI capabilities that enable long-term business transformation and competitive advantage

You’ll also be expected to have

• You’ll also be expected to have: Operational, risk management, financial management, collaboration and negotiation experience and expertise. Strong leadership skills, including Agile and servant leadership experience. Deep architecture, platform engineering and software engineering expertise Experience establishing AI platform operating models, engineering standards, governance frameworks and reusable technology capabilities Strong knowledge of enterprise AI, machine learning and agentic AI technologies, including their application in production environments at scale Hands‑on experience delivering AI platforms that support model serving, agent orchestration, observability, evaluation, governance and operational management An expert understanding of running large, complex technology programmes spanning multiple teams, disciplines and senior governance forums The ability to operate credibly as both a senior technology executive and a deeply technical engineering leader

This role is not a traditional AI product, delivery, or data science leadership position. Success will require a proven platform engineering and architecture leader who has built and operated enterprise-scale AI capabilities. The successful candidate will bring deep technical credibility, hands‑on experience delivering agentic AI platforms into production, and a track record of creating the foundational capabilities that enable organisations to scale AI safely, securely and effectively.

Hours 45

Job Posting Closing Date: 08/10/2026

Experience Level Executive Level