Lead AI Engineer

Role

KeyBank is seeking a Lead AI Engineer to design, build, and modernize AI-powered conversational experiences, IVR platforms, and voice bot solutions within Contact Center Technology. This senior individual-contributor position is focused on hands-on engineering, end-to-end delivery, and technical guidance across initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop AI-powered IVR and voice bot solutions using modern conversational AI frameworks.
• Lead technical architecture and engineering design for AI-driven customer experience initiatives.
• Build Node.js / TypeScript microservices aligned with cloud-native and low-latency voice requirements.
• Own end-to-end delivery from concept through deployment and production support.
• Apply agentic AI patterns and integrate LLMs and orchestration frameworks (Gemini, LangGraph, LangChain).
• Develop, test, evaluate, and optimize prompts, workflows, and AI orchestration strategies.
• Collaborate with product, platform, voice, and operations teams to support call routing, self-service, and agent handoffs.
• Apply SRE principles for resiliency, scalability, monitoring, and production readiness.
• Ensure solutions meet security and regulatory requirements (PII / PCI).

Required Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years in a senior/lead AI engineering or comparable technical contributor role.
• Hands-on experience building and deploying AI-powered applications and services.
• Strong experience with Node.js and TypeScript.
• Proven experience designing and delivering cloud-native solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience implementing and integrating LLMs, conversational AI platforms, and agentic AI frameworks.
• Solid understanding of microservices architecture, APIs, and distributed systems.
• Hands-on Kubernetes experience, including GKE cluster setup and platform operations.
• Experience with IVR, voice bots, conversational AI, or contact center technologies.
• Strong collaboration, communication, technical judgment, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Gemini, LangGraph, LangChain and other agentic/agent-driven frameworks.
• Experience developing AI agents, orchestration workflows, and multi-agent solutions.
• Knowledge of voice flows, call routing, containment, and agent escalation.
• Experience in regulated or financial services environments.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Experience working in Agile delivery models at enterprise scale.
• Demonstrated experience with Agentic “Vibe Coding” — rapid prototyping and iterative development using AI-assisted coding tools, prompts, and agent-driven workflows.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary range: $96,000 - $181,000 annually.
• Eligible for incentive compensation (may include production, commission, and/or discretionary incentives).
• Eligible for company benefits (details provided via company benefits resource).

Location & Work Arrangement

• Primary location: 4910 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio.
• KeyBank prioritizes in-office presence while providing flexible options where roles can be performed effectively in a mobile environment. The posting includes a remote tag but emphasizes office-first expectations.

Other

• Department: Contact Center Technology.
• Experience: 4+ years.
• This position is NOT eligible for employment visa sponsorship for non-U.S. citizens.
• Job Posting Expiration Date: 11/27/2026.