GenAI Platform Engineering Manager

mtb; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

M&T Bank is seeking a high-impact senior leader to manage the engineering and architecture teams responsible for building and operating the enterprise AI platform, including the Azure API Management gateway and Azure AI Foundry.

You will set strategy, oversee platform lifecycle, cost management, security, risk, vendor relationships and hiring for the platform engineering team within a regulated environment.

Qualifications

• Leads multiple teams to deliver enterprise AI capabilities.
• Manages platform strategy, cost centers and vendor relations.
• Ensures compliance with security, risk, and regulatory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own the strategy, engineering and operation of the enterprise AI platform, including the Azure API Management gateway and Azure AI Foundry.
• Oversee gateway traffic management, rate limiting, identity integration, model routing and platform performance.
• Establish platform SLAs, runbooks, on-call practices and incident response processes.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Platform governance

Budgeting & FinOps

Vendor management

Security & Compliance

Cloud architecture

Tools

Azure API Management

Azure AI Foundry

OpenTelemetry

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

Overview

Manages the activities of several Engineering and/or Architecture Managers and/or Team Leaders responsible for building and operating M&T Bank's enterprise AI platform. This team owns the Azure API Management gateway and Azure AI Foundry platform that enable the Bank to adopt and deliver AI solutions at scale.

Provides strategic and operational leadership for the AI platform, including gateway management, platform lifecycle environments, model onboarding, vendor oversight, observability, reliability and resilience. Oversees the infrastructure that supports AI solutions across the Bank and ensures the platform meets applicable security, risk, regulatory and operational requirements.

Responsible for the budget of cost center(s) spanning concurrent development streams and for providing long- and short-term strategic direction across multiple applications and technology domains. Serves as a primary contact for Engineering, Architecture and Technology leadership, business partners and third-party vendors.

This is a high-impact leadership role within a small, high-agency team. The position owns the platform operating model, oversees the transition of vendor-developed capabilities to internal teams and hires, develops and leads the engineering talent responsible for the platform's long-term operation.

Primary Responsibilities

• Own the strategy, engineering and ongoing operation of M&T Bank's enterprise AI platform, including the Azure API Management gateway, Azure AI Foundry platform, lifecycle environments and supporting cloud infrastructure.
• Oversee gateway traffic management, rate limiting, identity integration, model routing, capacity planning and platform performance.
• Establish and maintain platform service levels, operating procedures, runbooks, on-call practices, business continuity capabilities and incident response processes.
• Ensure the AI platform is reliable, resilient, scalable and capable of supporting the Bank's growing portfolio of AI use cases.
• Oversee model onboarding and lifecycle management, including routing, provider integration, multi-provider resiliency and inference cost management.
• Build and manage platform observability capabilities, including OpenTelemetry, security information and event management integration, cost and token monitoring, and same-day queryable audit trails.
• Ensure platform controls support applicable AI safety and risk requirements, including content filtering, personally identifiable information interception, prompt shielding, access management and traceability.
• Partner with the teams responsible for the Bank's agentic risk framework and AI delivery capability to ensure platform design and operations align with enterprise AI governance standards.
• Manage and participate in consultations with client management to analyze short-and long-range business requirements and recommend innovations that anticipate the future impact of changing business and technology needs.
• Build positive relationships with clients, business partners, Engineering and Architecture leadership, Technology leadership, Risk, Cybersecurity, Legal, Compliance and other key stakeholders.
• Monitor technology and industry direction related to AI platforms, API gateway infrastructure, cloud services, large language model serving and emerging vendor capabilities.
• Research and initiate changes to existing technologies, processes and operating models when needed. Lead vendor and product analysis and provide recommendations to senior leadership.
• Manage third-party delivery relationships and oversee the transition of vendor-developed platform capabilities to internal teams. Review statements of work, monitor milestones, hold partners accountable to deliverables and elevate delivery risks when appropriate.
• Oversee multiple application development, infrastructure, support, testing, implementation and project management efforts across the AI platform.
• Organize and direct the activities of engineering teams, assign personnel to initiatives and ensure the completion of schedules and deliverables.
• Develop short-and long-term staffing plans. Hire, retain and develop a strong platform engineering team capable of operating critical AI infrastructure in a regulated environment.
• Implement technology consistent with Division standards and long-range plans. Ensure adherence to all Department and Technology standards, procedures and documentation requirements.
• Oversee solution and platform designs based on business, technology, security, risk and regulatory requirements.
• Manage escalated platform issues and remain current on activities outside the team that may affect the platform, client environment or broader AI ecosystem.
• Develop and manage multiple cost center budgets, including vendor and cloud platform expenses. Support cloud cost management and FinOps practices at the platform level.
• Recommend and initiate policies and procedures that improve the performance, reliability, efficiency and effectiveness of the De