Staff AI Engineer

What's the opportunity?

RBC's AI Group is building the reusable patterns that help teams across the organization design, build, and ship AI agents faster. We're seeking a Staff AI Engineer to design and build these patterns  agent identity, context abstraction, and a standardized data and analytics framework that feeds a central evaluation engine for agent reliability. This includes leveraging agent exhaust data to power an analytics engine built for reuse, discoverability, and value generation across teams. This hybrid role combines hands-on AI and agent development with full-stack ownership, for someone who wants to give AI builders across the organization the tools to move from idea to shipped agent faster.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Designing and building agentic and AI-driven logic including LLM-as-judge and rubric-driven prompting patterns that turns raw platform data into decision-ready signals for the business
• Building and orchestrating agentic workflows designing multi-step agents, tool integrations, and evaluation harnesses that reliably automate complex, governance-sensitive tasks beyond single-shot prompting.
• Building full-stack backend services, APIs, and the executive-facing dashboards and reporting flows that put those signals in front of stakeholders - you ship your own AI logic into production, not just a notebook
• Building and owning the data pipelines that feed your applications, partnering with Data Engineering on underlying data contracts and with Governance/Security on privacy-safe handling of sensitive data
• Documenting design decisions, prompt/rubric changes, and evaluation results to keep AI-driven components auditable, especially where they touch governance-sensitive workflows.

You're our ideal candidate if you:

• Have staff-level experience spanning applied AI/agentic engineering (agent architectures, prompt design, evaluation, LLM-as-judge patterns) and full-stack software development, this is a genuine dual-competency role, not an AI specialist who dabbles in UI work.
• Demonstrated track record designing and delivering enterprise-grade AI platforms with direct, hands-on engineering contribution at the most complex levels.
• Full-stack capability, hands-on 7+ years building and shipping production web applications end-to-end backend services and APIs (e.g., Node.js/Python/Java or equivalent) plus a modern frontend framework (React, Angular, or equivalent) , you can independently take a feature from data contract to a working executive-facing UI without a separate frontend engineer.
• Are comfortable owning ambiguous, high-judgment problems deciding what "good enough" classification accuracy looks like and when to escalate beyond prompting is a core part of this role
• Have shipped production systems that consume LLM outputs as a decision signal, not just as a chat interface
• Can work credibly with Governance/Compliance and Security partners on privacy-sensitive, auditable AI decision-making, given the misuse-detection use case touches individual employee behavior
• Enjoy working across the stack rather than staying in a single layer, this role spans data contracts, backend, AI logic, and the executive-facing interface, with no expectation of a dedicated frontend or backend specialist to hand off to

Tech stack you'll work with

• LLM & AI platform:  LLM Gateway; LLM API integration and production deployment patterns (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or equivalent); prompt/rubric design for LLM-as-judge classification; agentic AI concepts (MCP, A2A, guardrails, authentication, evaluation)
• AI frameworks: LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar for orchestration/evaluation tooling
• API & backend: RESTful API design, API gateway patterns, authentication/authorization (OAuth2, JWT), rate limiting, versioning and deprecation practices
• Data & retrieval (as needed for classification context): Vector databases / RAG pipeline patterns (Pinecone, pgvector, Chroma, or equivalent) if semantic retrieval is needed to support classification accuracy
• Cloud & infra: Azure and/or AWS; containerization and cloud-native deployment (Kubernetes/AKS/OpenShift); Terraform/infrastructure-as-code exposure is a plus.
• Full-stack (hands-on, required): Backend service/API development (Node.js, Python, or Java/equivalent) plus a modern frontend framework (React, Angular, or equivalent) for the executive-facing dashboard and Top-10-spenders reporting UI; relational/analytical data store experience (e.g., Postgres or equivalent) for the aggregation layer
• Data Pipelines & Warehouse:  Apache Airflow/Prefect for ETL/ELT orchestration, Snowflake ,Custom Python: Pandas, PySpark for transformations for data lineage and SQL-based transformations

What's in it for you?

• Become part of a team that thinks progressively and works collaboratively. We care about seeing each other reach full potential;
• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, commissions, and stock options where applicable;
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities;
• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact from a local-to-global scale.

About the AI Group:

RBC's AI Group is the AI accelerator for RBC, with a focus on driving the shift from early-stage AI projects to scaled, client outcomes that amplify the impact of RBC's people. In addition to helping scale the biggest AI opportunities at RBC, the AI Group is responsible for advancing research into emerging use cases across generative and agentic AI, while maintaining expertise in security, responsible AI and regulatory expectations. The Business Enablement function within the AI Group partners with LOBs and Functions to set AI ambition, originate transformation opportunities, and frame programs for delivery ensuring RBC remains at the frontier of AI-enabled value creation.

Inclusion and Equal Opportunity Employment

RBC is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veterans status, Aboriginal/Native American status or any other legally protected factors. Disability-related accommodations during the application process are available upon request.

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Job Skills

Application Development, Application Integrations, Application Maintenance, Applications Architecture, Detail-Oriented, Enterprise Application Delivery, Group Problem Solving, Programming Languages, Software Development, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), System Applications, Technical Knowledge

Additional Job Details

RBC WATERPARK PLACE, 88 QUEENS QUAY W:TORONTOTorontoCanada37.5Full timeRegularSalaried2026-07-282026-09-18

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above

Our Employment Opportunities

At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.

RBC is presently inviting candidates to apply for this existing vacancy. Applying to this posting allows you to express your interest in this current career opportunity at RBC. Qualified applicants may be contacted to review their resume in more detail.