What are the responsibilities and job description for the AI Engineer/Data Scientist position at Commercial Bank of California?
AI Engineer/Data Scientist
Location: Irvine, CA
Job Type: Full-Time | Exempt | Remote/Hybrid Eligible
Salary Range: $170,000 – $220,000 per year
About Commercial Bank of California
Commercial Bank of California (CBC) is the largest Latino-owned bank in California and a certified Minority Depository Institution (MDI). Headquartered in Irvine and founded in 2003, CBC is one of the largest privately held banks in the state, with over $3.5 billion in assets as of December 2025.
We are a purpose-driven financial institution committed to building long-term relationships and delivering innovative, personalized banking solutions. Our leadership reflects the diverse communities we serve, and our mission is rooted in empowering entrepreneurs, business owners, and community leaders to thrive.
As a certified MDI, CBC is proud to play a vital role in advancing financial inclusion and economic opportunity. We believe in a higher vision for banking—one that prioritizes trust, collaboration, and community impact. Join us and be part of a team that’s redefining what it means to be a community-focused, relationship-driven bank that puts people over profits.
Job Summary
As a Senior AI Engineer/Data Scientist, you will lead the design, development, and deployment of production-grade AI solutions within our financial services ecosystem. You will bridge the gap between complex data science and scalable software engineering, utilizing Azure AI Foundry to build secure, high-performing models. A primary focus will be on Intelligent Automation—replacing manual financial workflows with AI-driven agents and LLM-powered systems.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Design and implement end-to-end AI pipelines using Azure AI Foundry (formerly Azure AI Studio),
- including orchestrating complex AI workflows, building RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems for financial document processing, and deploying large language models.
- You’ll establish best practices for prompt engineering, model fine-tuning, and responsible AI implementation across the organization.
- Identify and automate high-value banking processes using a combination of traditional ML, generative AI, and agentic systems. This includes automating loan origination workflows, regulatory reporting, document intelligence systems, customer service automation, and compliance monitoring using tools like Azure Document Intelligence, OpenAI models, Claude, and custom solutions.
- Identify manual processes in banking operations (e.g., KYC, credit scoring, fraud detection) and engineer automated solutions using AI agents and RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) architectures.
- Leverage Claude Code and other developer-centric AI tools to accelerate the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and maintain high code quality.
- Evaluate and fine-tune Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-4, Claude 4, and Llama 3 for finance-specific terminology and compliance requirements.
- Work closely with cybersecurity teams to ensure all AI deployments adhere to banking regulations (GDPR, CCPA, and Basel III standards), implementing robust guardrails and "Human-in-the-Loop" systems.
- Document solutions, present technical findings, and support knowledge sharing across teams.
- This individual will create production-ready AI systems by incorporating Enterprise-wide framework, rapidly adapt to emerging AI techniques, and own the lifecycle of models and agents from initial ideation through monitoring and maintenance. The engineer will coordinate with cross-functional data and business teams but retain technical accountability.
- Own the complete AI development lifecycle: prototype, productionize, monitor, and continuously improve models and systems.
- Rapidly evaluate, adopt, and optimize new AI techniques and platforms as technology evolves
Minimum Qualifications
- Technical AI/ML Expertise
- 7 years of experience in AI/ML engineering or data science with minimum 10 IT Engineering experience.
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science, Information Systems, or equivalent.
- Deep Learning & LLMs: Proven experience with Prompt Engineering, RAG, and fine-tuning techniques.
- Cloud Platforms: Mastery of Azure AI Foundry, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure OpenAI Service.
- AI Tooling: Hands-on experience with Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, LangChain, and LlamaIndex for agentic workflows.
- Programming: Expert-level proficiency in Python (PyTorch, TensorFlow, Scikit-learn) and SQL.
- Direct experience in the financial industry, understanding the nuances of risk management, transaction monitoring, and payments is a plus.
- Familiarity with financial data structures and the challenges of legacy banking system integration.
- Strong understanding of MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) to manage model versioning, monitoring, and retraining.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and API development (FastAPI/Flask).
- Familiarity with synthetic data generation for financial modeling
- Understanding of real-time fraud detection architectures
- Experience with conversational AI for banking (chatbots, virtual assistants)
- Experience vetting potential use cases for AI capabilities, implementing viable approaches, and defining/tracking measures of success
- Deep understanding of data engineering, integration, and pipeline architecture.
- Preferred Qualifications:
- Certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102) or Azure Data Scientist Associate (DP-100).
- Prior experience in banking, financial services, or fintech (strongly preferred)
- A portfolio of successful AI-driven automation projects that resulted in measurable ROI or time savings.
- This list is not all inclusive. Additional duties will be assigned as needed
Benefits & Perks
- Competitive employer contribution to medical, dental and vision coverage
- 401k plan with employer match
- Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Dependent Care Accounts
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Employer provided Calm subscription
- Employer provided mental health benefits through Teladoc
- Life, AD&D and disability insurance
- Minimum 15 Days of Vacation, 11 Paid Federal Holidays, Paid Time off to Volunteer
- Online discount program
- Tuition Reimbursement Program
Join Our Team!
Equal Employment Opportunity & Accommodations
Commercial Bank of California is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. All qualified individuals will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic.
We evaluate applicants fairly and equitably, including those with criminal histories, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Commercial Bank of California is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact us at hr@cbcal.com with the nature of your request and your contact information.
Recruitment Policy
Commercial Bank of California does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate. Any unsolicited resumes sent to CBC, either directly or indirectly, will be considered the property of Commercial Bank of California.
We will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. To submit candidates for consideration, recruiting agencies must have a valid, written, and fully executed agreement with Commercial Bank of California. Without such an agreement in place, no agency submissions will be accepted or compensated.
Salary : $170,000 - $220,000