AI Transformation Lead

IT STARTS HERE

Santander (www.santander.com) is evolving from a global, high-impact brand into a technology-driven organization, and our people are at the heart of this journey. Together, we are driving a customer-centric transformation that values bold thinking, innovation, and the courage to challenge what’s possible.
This is more than a strategic shift. It’s a chance for driven professionals to grow, learn, and make a real difference.
Our mission is to contribute to help more people and businesses prosper. We embrace a strong risk culture and all our professionals at all levels are expected to take a proactive and responsible approach toward risk management.

THE DIFFERENCE YOU MAKE

As our AI TRANSFORMATION LEAD, you will drive enterprise AI initiatives end-to-end, from defining the strategy and identifying high-impact use cases to the hands-on development, deployment, and scaling of AI solutions.
This role brings together AI product leadership, technical architecture, and direct development. You will design, prototype, and scale AI systems, including Large Language Models, Retrieval-Augmented Generation solutions, AI agents, and automation workflows, delivering measurable value within a regulated banking environment.
You will operate comfortably across both strategic and technical contexts: discussing ROI with executive stakeholders, defining system architectures with engineering teams, writing Python code, and developing high-quality prompts and evaluation pipelines.

The role offers a unique opportunity to combine strategic vision with hands-on execution, helping transform promising AI opportunities into reliable, scalable, and production-ready solutions.

Main Responsibilities:
AI Strategy & Product Definition

• Identify high-impact AI opportunities across business units.
• Translate business challenges into scalable AI roadmaps and clearly defined use cases.
• Define measurable success metrics, adoption strategies, and expected business outcomes.

Hands-on Development

• Develop AI prototypes and production components using Python.
• Implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation pipelines, embedding workflows, and orchestration logic.
• Build integrations with APIs, internal systems, and data platforms.
• Design, test, and optimize prompts to improve reliability, accuracy, and safety.
• Create structured prompt templates, guardrails, and evaluation frameworks.
• Run experiments to benchmark model performance and iterate using telemetry and human feedback.

Architecture & Delivery Leadership

• Define scalable AI architectures covering LLMs, vector databases, agent frameworks, and MLOps capabilities.
• Oversee model lifecycle management, monitoring, and drift detection.
• Lead cross-functional squads involving AI, Data, Engineering, and Business teams.
• Ensure production-grade performance, resilience, scalability, and latency.

Value Realization

• Own AI initiatives from initial concept through to production deployment.
• Track KPIs and ensure that solutions deliver measurable business impact.
• Drive stakeholder alignment, organizational adoption, and effective execution.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

Our people are our greatest strength. Every individual contributes unique perspectives that make us stronger as a team and as an organization. We’re enabling teams to go beyond by valuing who they are and empowering what they bring.
The following requirements represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential for success in this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Professional Experience

• 3–4+ years of experience in AI/ML, AI product, or AI transformation roles. (Required).
• Proven experience deploying AI systems into production environments. (Required).
• Experience working in regulated environments, preferably within banking or financial services. (Preferred).
• Demonstrated ability to manage AI initiatives from concept and prototyping through to production and adoption. (Required).
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams across AI, Data, Engineering, Product, and Business. (Required).

Education & Languages

• Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field. (Required).
• Fluent English. (Required).
• Fluent Spanish. (Required).

Hard Skills

• Strong Python development skills. (Required).
• Hands-on experience with Large Language Models and prompt engineering. (Required).
• Hands-on experience with RAG architectures and vector databases. (Required).
• Experience designing agentic workflows and working with orchestration frameworks. (Required).
• Knowledge of MLOps practices and AI evaluation pipelines. (Required).
• Experience working with cloud environments, such as AWS. (Required).
• Ability to operate effectively at both system-design and implementation-detail levels. (Required).
• Ability to design prompt templates, guardrails, experimentation processes, and evaluation frameworks. (Required).

Profile

• High ownership mindset with a strong bias toward execution.
• Ability to build technical credibility with engineers while maintaining a strategic dialogue with executives.
• Structured thinking and confidence operating in ambiguous and evolving environments.
• Strong communication skills across business and technical audiences.
• Ability to connect AI capabilities with measurable business value and user adoption.

What Success Looks Like

• AI solutions are designed, built, and deployed with measurable ROI.
• Strong adoption is achieved across relevant business units.
• AI architectures are scalable, resilient, and production-ready.
• Cross-functional teams are aligned and deliver at pace.

WE VALUE YOUR IMPACT

Your contribution matters, and it’s recognized. You can expect a fair, competitive reward package that reflects the impact you create and the value you deliver. But we know rewards go beyond numbers.

• We enable our teams to go beyond through global opportunities and broad career paths.
• Flexibility that works. Enjoy a hybrid working model, with some days remote and some days onsite with your team, along with flexible hours.
• Learning for life. Access hundreds of courses on our platforms, including exclusive access to our global learning space: Santander Open Academy (www.santanderopenacademy.com).
• Competitive rewards. Receive a highly competitive salary with performance-based bonuses, motivating you to keep growing with us.
• Financial advantages. Benefit from preferential banking terms and special interest rates on loans, life insurance, and more.
• Your health is our priority. Through BeHealthy, our global wellness programme, we promote holistic wellbeing.
• We know family is everything. That’s why we offer childcare support and family-friendly programmes tailored to each life stage.
• Always by your side. Get access to Santander Contigo, our programme for employees and their families, offering legal, emotional, and administrative advisory services.
• Extra benefits. Gym/WellHub membership, medical centres in some of our facilities, meal subsidy, parking, shuttle services from various points in Madrid, and exclusive discounts and offers for Santander employees. And that’s only the beginning. We’ll tell you more when you join!

We’re here to keep you motivated, help you reach your goals, and celebrate your progress, every step of the way.
LOCAL COMPLIANCE

Santander is proud to be an organization where there are equal opportunities regardless of age, gender, disability, civil status, race, religion, or sexual orientation. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible application process for all candidates.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

If this sounds like a role you are interested in, then please apply.

READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP IN YOUR JOURNEY?