About the position

Zions Bancorporation's Enterprise Technology and Operations (ETO) team is transforming what it means to work for a financial institution. With a commitment to technology and innovation, we have been providing our community, clients and colleagues the best experience possible for over 150 years. Help us transform our workforce of the future, today. Zions Bancorporation's Innovation Lab is seeking a creative and driven Data Scientist (Applied AI Scientist) to explore and pioneer the next generation of artificial intelligence solutions. This role is at the heart of our innovation engine, focusing on rapidly prototyping and validating new AI concepts that have the potential to redefine banking processes, enhance customer experiences, and unlock new revenue streams. As a key member of the Innovation Lab, you will work in a fast-paced, experimental environment, turning ambiguous business challenges into tangible, data-driven prototypes. You will leverage the full spectrum of AI—from generative and agentic systems to predictive modeling—to build proof-of-concepts that demonstrate what's possible.

Responsibilities

• Design, prototype, and validate end-to-end AI solutions, with a focus on demonstrating business value and technical feasibility.
• Develop and experiment with agentic AI systems and multi-agent architectures using modern LLM orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LangGraph).
• Explore, clean, and transform diverse datasets (structured and unstructured) to uncover opportunities for innovative AI applications.
• Build and refine AI/ML pipelines for rapid prototyping, including data ingestion, prompt engineering, model inference, and exploratory evaluation.
• Collaborate closely with business stakeholders, product managers, and technology teams to ideate, define, and test new AI use cases.
• Stay at the forefront of emerging AI research and technologies, actively bringing new ideas and techniques into the lab for experimentation.
• Perform statistical analysis, interpret results, and build predictive models to inform and validate innovation projects.
• Communicate complex findings, methodologies, and the potential impact of your work to both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leadership.

Requirements

• Strong background in both software engineering and applied statistics, with a passion for building and experimenting.
• Excellent programming skills in Python, with experience in API development (e.g., FastAPI, Flask) and leveraging libraries like NumPy, PyTorch, and Scikit-learn.
• Hands-on experience building and deploying AI applications, especially those leveraging Generative AI, LLMs, and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Familiarity with LLM orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph), vector databases, and prompt engineering best practices.
• Proven ability to work with complex data, perform statistical analysis (e.g., hypothesis testing, regression), and apply various machine learning techniques.
• Experience with cloud platforms (GCP preferred; Azure or AWS) and a working knowledge of MLOps concepts for rapid iteration (e.g., CI/CD, containerization).
• Exceptional problem-solving skills, comfort with ambiguity, and the ability to own projects from concept to completion.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate the business value of technical solutions.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Statistics, or a related technical field plus 4+ years of hands-on experience in data science or AI engineering. A Master's degree or PhD is a strong plus.
• A combination of education and experience may meet qualifications.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience building agentic workflows or multi-agent systems is a significant plus.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance - START DAY ONE!
• Life and Disability Insurance, Paid Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
• Health Savings (HSA), Flexible Spending (FSA) and dependent care accounts
• Paid Training, Paid Time Off (PTO) and 11 Paid Federal Holidays
• 401(k) plan with company match, Profit Sharing, competitive compensation in line with work experience
• Mental health benefits including coaching and therapy sessions
• Tuition Reimbursement for qualifying employees
• Employee Ambassador preferred banking products