Staff Engineer I - Enterprise Application Services

Western Alliance Bank; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and dental insurance

401k matching

Tuition assistance program

Employee volunteer program

Wellness program

Ownership stake in the company

Job summary

Western Alliance Bank is seeking an IT Staff Engineer I to lead the governance and administration of the enterprise AI agent platform (Microsoft Foundry). You’ll own platform operations, security, and compliance, partnering with security, infrastructure, and application teams to enable scalable AI-enabled business processes.

The role requires 5+ years in software engineering, a related bachelor’s degree, and strong experience with Foundry and Azure DevOps. Travel up to 25% may be required.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of related software development or engineering experience.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field.
• Experience with Python, C#/ .NET, or JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Experience with Microsoft Foundry; Foundry IQ preferred.
• Experience developing Copilot Studio alongside Foundry-built agents or Power Platform preferred.
• Understanding of AI models and the cost implications of enterprise AI workloads preferred.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of Financial Services or Banking preferred.
• Advanced regulatory and legal compliance knowledge.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple projects; Azure DevOps experience preferred.
• Ability to align projects with organizational goals; governance and architectural compliance expertise.
• Excellent spoken and written communication skills.
• May require up to 25% travel.

Responsibilities

• Governance, administration, and operational support of the enterprise AI agent platform.
• Create and configure Foundry projects, agents, connections and resources (Cosmos DB, AI Search, storage).
• Deploy and manage models from the catalog, configure quotas, and maintain guardrail policies.
• Assign and audit Foundry RBAC roles.
• Provide platform support – capacity, toolboxes, hosted agent runtimes, tracing and incident reports.
• Partner with engineering leadership to ensure solutions align with standards and architectural principles & patterns.
• Design and implement platform-level monitoring and observability for a highly transactional environment.

Skills

Software development

Cross-functional leadership

Technical governance

Communication skills

Project management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Microsoft Foundry

Foundry IQ

Copilot Studio

Power Platform

Azure DevOps

Cosmos DB

Job description

Job Title

Staff Engineer I - Enterprise Application Services

Location

Block 23

What you'll do

As an IT Staff Engineer I within Enterprise Application Services (EAS), you’ll serve as the technical owner and administrator of the enterprise AI agent platform, including Microsoft Foundry. You’ll be responsible for the governance, administration, operational support, security, and compliance of AI agents across the organization, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and guardrails. This role manages platform operations, including environment administration, access controls, monitoring, incident response, and governance processes, while partnering with security, infrastructure, identity, and application teams. Additionally, you’ll provide technical leadership and guidance to enable the development, deployment, optimization, and ongoing operation of AI agents that support business processes and enterprise objectives.

• Create and configure Foundry projects, agents, connections and resources (Cosmos DB, AI Search, storage).
• Deploy and manage models from the catalog, configure quotas, and maintain content/guardrail policies.
• Assign and audit Foundry RBAC roles (Foundry User, Foundry Account Owner, Project Manager, etc.).
• Provide platform support – capacity, toolboxes, hosted agent runtimes, tracing and incident reports.
• Partner with Principal Engineer(s) to ensure solutions are aligned with engineering standards, approved designs, and architectural principles & patterns.
• Design & implement solution for platform-level monitoring & observability in a highly transactional environment that provides meaningful metrics to business partners and supports ensures transparency, traceability, and auditability.

What you'll need

• 5+ years of related experience in software development or engineering.
• Bachelor's degree in related field required.
• Experience with programming languages (e.g. Python, C#/.Net, or JavaScript/TypeScript) is required.
• Experience with Microsoft Foundry, Foundry IQ is preferred.
• Experience developing Copilot Studio alongside Foundry-built agents or Power Platform is preferred.
• Understanding of AI models, consumption-based pricing, and the long-term cost implications of enterprise AI workloads is preferred.
• Intermediate to advanced knowledge of general Financial Services or Banking preferred.
• Advanced knowledge of applicable regulatory and legal compliance obligations, rules and regulations, industry standards and practices.
• Advanced proven experience in leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple projects simultaneously. Additional experience with pipeline development and leveraging Azure DevOps while working on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Intermediate to advanced ability to see the big picture and align projects with organizational goals. Capable of leading and motivating cross-functional teams. Expertise in resolving conflicts and addressing challenges as well as skilled at identifying and mitigating risks at the project level. Proficient in governance patterns tied to intake, technical reviews and architectural compliance.
• Advanced speaking and writing communication skills.
• May require up to 25% travel.

Benefits you'll love

We offer all the important things you'd want — like competitive salaries, an ownership stake in the company, medical and dental insurance, time off, a great 401k matching program, tuition assistance program, an employee volunteer program, and a wellness program. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to bolster your business knowledge, learning the ins and outs of how successful companies operate and manage their finances, giving you invaluable hands‑on experience to help grow your career!

About the company

Western Alliance Bank, Member FDIC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Alliance Bancorporation. Serving clients nationwide, Western Alliance Bank includes six legacy bank brands — Alliance Association Bank, Alliance Bank of Arizona, Bank of Nevada, Bridge Bank, First Independent Bank and Torrey Pines Bank — that remain part of the company’s heritage, as well as AmeriHome Mortgage, a Western Alliance Bank Company.

Western Alliance Bancorporation is committed to equal employment and will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, sex, color, religion, age, nation origin, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or genetic information. Western Alliance Bancorporation is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process and/or need an alternative method of applying, please email [e-mail] or call 602-386-2488. When contacting us, please provide your contact information and state the nature of your accessibility issue. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests that involve a reasonable accommodation in the application process.

© Western Alliance Bancorporation