Senior Principal Analyst - Applied AI

FC Global Services India LLP (First Citizens India), a part of First Citizens BancShares, Inc., a top 20 U.S. financial institution, is a global capability center (GCC) based in Bengaluru. Our India-based teams benefit from the company’s over 125-year legacy of strength and stability. First Citizens India is responsible for delivering value and managing risks for our lines of business. We are particularly proud of our strong, relationship-driven culture and our long-term approach, which are deeply ingrained in our talented workforce. This is evident across all key areas of our operations, including Technology, Enterprise Operations, Finance, Cybersecurity, Risk Management, and Credit Administration. We are seeking talented individuals to join us in our mission of providing solutions fit for our clients’ greatest ambitions.

Job Description:

Value Proposition

Applied AI at First Citizens is not about forcing a generative AI solution into every problem, or chasing each new foundation model because it exists. It is about understanding a business problem well enough to know what it actually calls for — which might be predictive modeling, classical machine learning, statistical analysis, NLP, a generative AI approach, or a simpler non-AI solution. The discipline to make that call honestly, and to test whether the solution actually works, is what distinguishes good applied AI from impressive-sounding AI.

The role is a senior hands-on technical contributor within the FCI Applied AI team. This role independently owns complex technical work packages — from solution design and data assessment through build, evaluation, and implementation support — and guides less experienced analysts through the quality and discipline expected in a regulated financial services environment.

The key distinction is ownership, not just execution. This role makes technical design decisions, selects and defends analytical methods, defines evaluation approaches, and takes accountability for the quality and completeness of what is delivered — not just the completion of assigned tasks.

Job Details

• Position Title: Senior Principal Analyst - Applied AI

• Career Level:   P5

• Job Category: Vice President

• Role Type: Hybrid

• Job Location: Bengaluru

About the Team:

First Citizens Bank is building enterprise AI capabilities designed to last — ones grounded in real business value, sound data, and governance that enables adoption rather than obstructs it. Enterprise AI brings together data science, applied AI, Responsible AI, portfolio management, and technology and risk partnerships to translate AI potential into practical, trusted outcomes across the General Bank, Commercial Bank, and Enterprise Functions.

This is an early but accelerating chapter. Governance frameworks, delivery patterns, an enterprise AI platform, and portfolio management routines are all being built in parallel. First Citizens India is central to this capability — not as a support layer, but as a core delivery team that will shape how AI is executed across the enterprise. The people joining now will help define reusable methods, evaluation practices, and technical standards that the bank will build on for years.

This role is designed for an experienced technical practitioner who is ready to independently own complex AI and analytics work — and who wants to do that work at a meaningful scale, with real business impact, in a team that takes craft seriously.

Impact :

First Citizens Bank is building enterprise AI capabilities designed to last — ones grounded in real business value, sound data, and governance that enables adoption rather than obstructs it. Enterprise AI brings together data science, applied AI, Responsible AI, portfolio management, and technology and risk partnerships to translate AI potential into practical, trusted outcomes across the General Bank, Commercial Bank, and Enterprise Functions.

This is an early but accelerating chapter. Governance frameworks, delivery patterns, an enterprise AI platform, and portfolio management routines are all being built in parallel. First Citizens India is central to this capability — not as a support layer, but as a core delivery team that will shape how AI is executed across the enterprise. The people joining now will help define reusable methods, evaluation practices, and technical standards that the bank will build on for years.

This role is designed for an experienced technical practitioner who is ready to independently own complex AI and analytics work — and who wants to do that work at a meaningful scale, with real business impact, in a team that takes craft seriously.

Key Deliverables

Technical Solution Ownership

• Own complex technical work packages for data science, ML, advanced analytics, and GenAI solutions — from solution design and data assessment through build, testing, evaluation documentation, and implementation support.
• Translate defined use case objectives and requirements into analytical methods, technical designs, data requirements, experiment plans, model prototypes, prompt or retrieval configurations, and reusable code assets.
• Select fit-for-purpose techniques and establish transparent baselines and challenger approaches where warranted — ensuring that solution complexity and any use of GenAI is justified by measurable benefit, not by default.
• Identify technical limitations, assumptions, data dependencies, and delivery risks early; communicate them clearly in writing and through planned collaboration with delivery leads and U.S.-based partners.

Build, Evaluation, and Production Readiness

• Develop, test, and refine models and solution components using Python, SQL, and approved analytical or AI engineering tools — producing outputs that are reproducible, well-documented, and ready for technical and governance review.
• For ML and advanced analytics solutions, design evaluations covering predictive performance, stability, interpretability, robustness, data quality, and monitoring requirements appropriate to the use case.
• For GenAI solutions, design and execute evaluations for task accuracy, groundedness and faithfulness, retrieval quality, content safety, prompt and data-handling risks, human review effectiveness, and task-specific failure modes.
• Produce clear technical documentation, test evidence, implementation artifacts, and monitoring specifications that support delivery review, Responsible AI governance, and eventual operational readiness.

Enterprise AI Platform and Responsible Delivery

• Work with Enterprise AI platform, architecture, and data partners to develop solutions that can leverage approved platform capabilities and reusable delivery patterns as these mature — contributing practical requirements from delivery experience.
• Partner with Responsible AI and risk stakeholders through defined delivery channels to implement appropriate controls, testing evidence, human oversight expectations, and monitoring requirements.
• Contribute reusable methods, code assets, evaluation datasets, templates, and documentation patterns that improve consistency and speed across future AI use cases.
• Participate in objective technical assessment of relevant tools and vendor capabilities based on fit-for-purpose testing and enterprise architecture alignment.

Team Contribution and Global Collaboration

• Mentor practitioners through technical reviews, solution design guidance, troubleshooting support, and high-quality documentation practices — helping build the capability of the broader FCI Applied AI team.
• Collaborate across FCI and U.S. teams using disciplined handoffs, concise written communication, planned overlap windows, and timely escalation of decisions or blockers that require onshore input.
• Present technical findings, evaluation outcomes, assumptions, limitations, and implementation recommendations to the India delivery lead and, as appropriate, relevant U.S. technical and stakeholder forums.
• Contribute to a team culture built on curiosity, strong craft, honest communication, disciplined experimentation, and real accountability for outcome

What success looks like

• Complex AI and advanced analytics work packages are delivered with strong technical quality, clear documentation, reproducible evidence, and operational practicality — not just completed on time.
• The method chosen is the right one for the problem and the evidence, not the most sophisticated or the most recently available.
• colleagues receive effective mentorship, and the FCI Applied AI team builds genuine technical depth and reusable capability over time.
• U.S.-based Enterprise AI partners and AI Portfolio Management have transparent delivery visibility, confidence in technical outputs, and well-managed dependencies — without needing to micromanage execution.

Bachelor's Degree and 13+ years of experience in Data management, information technology, financial services, enterprise risk management, or related disciplines with leadership in AI/advanced analytics delivery.

Technical Skills

• Strong hands-on experience developing and evaluating data science, machine learning, advanced analytics, or GenAI solutions in a complex enterprise setting; financial services or regulated-industry experience is beneficial.
• Strong applied knowledge of statistical modeling, machine learning methods, feature engineering, experimental design, model evaluation, monitoring, and clear technical documentation.
• Hands-on proficiency with Python and SQL and experience with relevant analytics, ML, or GenAI development libraries, engineering workflows, and version-controlled code practices.
• Experience with GenAI solution patterns — prompting, retrieval-augmented generation, LLM evaluation, evaluation dataset design, safety and quality testing, human-in-the-loop workflows — is beneficial.
• Familiarity with enterprise cloud and data platforms such as AWS and Snowflake and with the engineering practices needed to move from experimentation toward implementation-ready solutions.

Relationships & Collaboration

• Reports to: Director

• Partners with: Global Enterprise Data Analytics Leadership

Accessibility Needs

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible hiring process. If you require accommodations at any stage (e.g. application, interviews, onboarding) please let us know, and we will work with you to ensure a seamless experience.

Equal Employment Opportunity

FC Global Services India LLP (First Citizens India) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment and prohibit all forms of discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, caste, disability, sexual orientation, economic status or any other characteristics protected by the law. We strive to foster a safe and respectful environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Our EEO policy ensures fairness throughout the employee life cycle.