Principal ML Engineer

Define the Intelligence Layer Powering Enterprise Operations
COO Technology sits at the operational core of the enterprise, delivering the platforms that enable execution, resiliency, regulatory confidence, and continuous improvement across the Chief Operating Office. From business continuity and control functions to customer experience, shared services, and supply chain, this organization drives large-scale modernization by transforming complex operational data into actionable insight.
We are seeking a senior-level technical leader to own ontology design and knowledge representation for our next generation of AI-enabled process intelligence. In this high-impact role, you will serve as the authority on how enterprise knowledge is structured, connected, and reasoned over building the semantic foundation that allows AI systems to truly understand how the business operates. Your work will directly enable AI-driven process discovery, pattern recognition, process optimization and identifying opportunities for automation at scale by unifying structured, semi-structured, and unstructured operational data into coherent, machine-interpretable knowledge graphs.
You will work across multiple workstreams, partnering with engineering, process improvement, and analytics teams to translate real-world operational behavior-captured through clickstream data, videos, and transcripts-into formal models that align with documented processes, controls, and organizational structures.
This role is ideal for someone who wants to shape how agentic AI, large language models, and knowledge graphs come together to unlock deep operational insight and drive measurable enterprise outcomes.
In this role, you will:

• Ontology Design & Architecture: Design comprehensive ontologies for knowledge graphs that capture:
  • Unstructured data: procedure documents, SOPs, transcriptions of clickstream videos.
  • Semi-structured data: process diagrams, BPMN XML files, diagrams extracted from PDFs.
  • Structured data: Process metadata tables (applications, HR entities, management hierarchies, risk assessment units, processes, organizations, controls).
• Agentic AI Prototyping: Use agentic AI frameworks to rapidly prototype and validate KG schemas in graph databases, enabling fast iteration on entity and relationship definitions.
• LLM Prompt Engineering for Extraction: Define parameterized schemas and craft optimized prompts for LLMs to extract entities and relationships from unstructured and semi-structured data sources.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the ontology and schema expert across the Process Improvement workstream and guide the Analysis & Evaluation workstream on connecting observational data with process documentation.
• Pattern Recognition: Enable the identification of similar patterns across processes and opportunities for high-impact AI automation
• Knowledge Integration: Build frameworks that connect operational observations (from clickstream analysis) with documented processes (from SOPs and control documents).

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of Engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education.
• 3+ years of experience in knowledge graph design, ontology engineering, or semantic technologies.
• 2+ years of experience working with LLMs and AI agents for information extraction, entity recognition, or knowledge base construction.

Desired Qualifications:

• 3+ years of hands-on experience with graph databases including schema design, query optimization, and large-scale data modeling.
• Expertise in semantic web technologies (RDF, OWL, SPARQL) and their application to enterprise knowledge management.
• Experience with agentic AI frameworks for automated knowledge extraction.
• Proficiency in Python with experience in NLP libraries and frameworks.
• Experience with process mining tools.
• Background in operations research, business process optimization, or workflow analysis.
• Experience in financial services, particularly in operations or risk management domains.
• Knowledge of AI risk assessment, AI safety, and ethical considerations in enterprise AI.
• Experience with cloud computing platforms.
• Excellent communication skills with ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders.
• Advanced degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Information Science, or related field.

Job Expectations and Core Values:

• Be Humble: You're smart yet always interested in learning from others.
• Work Transparently: You always deal in an honest, direct, and transparent way.
• Take Ownership: You embrace responsibility and find joy in having the answers.
• Learn More: You regularly self-educate and improve your skill set.
• Show Gratitude: You show appreciation and respect to those you work with.

Pay Range
Reflected is the base pay range offered for this position. Pay may vary depending on factors including but not limited to demonstrated examples of prior performance, skills, experience, or work location. Employees may also be eligible for incentive opportunities.
$159,000.00 - $305,000.00
Benefits
Wells Fargo provides eligible employees with a comprehensive set of benefits, many of which are listed below. Visit Benefits - Wells Fargo Jobs for an overview of the following benefit plans and programs offered to employees.

• Health benefits
• 401(k) Plan
• Paid time off
• Disability benefits
• Life insurance, critical illness insurance, and accident insurance
• Parental leave
• Critical caregiving leave
• Discounts and savings
• Commuter benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• Scholarships for dependent children
• Adoption reimbursement

Posting End Date:
1 May 2026
* Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
We Value Equal Opportunity
Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.
Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit's risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.
Applicants with Disabilities
To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo .
Drug and Alcohol Policy
Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.
Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:
a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.
b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.