Principal Innovation Engineer

Description

Job Description | Principal Innovation Engineer

Job Profile Summary

Will be responsible for driving Huntington's most complex innovation initiatives by designing and building end-to-end, production-grade prototypes and reusable technology assets, including AI-enabled applications, while setting high engineering standards for solution architecture, application design, and delivery acceleration across the Technology Innovation portfolio. This role requires strong hands-on full-stack engineering skills, the mindset of a startup innovator in a large organization, experience building AI-integrated applications end-to-end, developing APIs and user experiences, and the ability to operate independently with limited supervision in a fast-paced innovation environment.

Job Description

Summary:

This high-impact role is responsible for accelerating Huntington's innovation execution by architecting and building end-to-end solutions that move from concept to working product-quality prototype. The Principal Innovation Engineer will partner closely with the team to productize innovative concepts into secure, scalable applications and services, reducing dependency on single-threaded architecture knowledge by bringing strong engineering leadership, integration capability, and delivery velocity.

Duties and Responsibilities:

* Lead the design and delivery of high-impact innovation solutions aligned with the organization's business goals and technology trends in financial services

* Architect and build end-to-end prototypes and reusable assets, including AI-enabled applications, APIs, workflow automations, and integrations

* Translate AI innovation concepts (GenAI / agentic patterns) into real applications with enterprise-grade architecture patterns, security, and operational readiness

* Build solutions with a future-proof mindset, laying a solid foundation for development and preventing the need for costly redesigns

* Establish and evolve engineering standards for innovation delivery (reference architectures, reusable templates, code quality, API patterns, integration patterns)

* Partner with other technology teams to align on enterprise architecture, identity / access patterns, data access, compliance needs, and reuse opportunities

* Evaluate emerging technologies and developer tooling (Digital Assets, AI-assisted development, orchestration frameworks, app frameworks, integration approaches) and assess applicability to Huntington's environment

* Drive technical problem-solving across ambiguous domains; proactively decompose work into deliverable increments and lead execution to complete finished outcomes

* Provide technical mentorship and guidance to engineers, helping improve development velocity, quality, and confidence across the team

* Contribute to innovation reporting by summarizing progress, decisions, tradeoffs, and outcomes in a clear way for senior stakeholders

* Champion a culture of innovation and forward thinking, educating teams about new possibilities and bring an "art of the possible" mindset to problem-solving

Basic Qualifications:

* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or a related technical field

* 10+ years of experience in software engineering, technology architecture, and end-to-end innovative solution delivery

* Expert-level software engineering and application architecture skills with the ability to independently lead complex initiatives from concept to execution

* Demonstrated hands-on experience building applications end-to-end (backend + integration + UI), including APIs and workflow automation solutions

* Demonstrated experience building AI-enabled applications (GenAI, RAG, agentic workflows, model integration, evaluation/guardrails) in a hands-on capacity

* Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment while managing multiple priorities and driving workplans proactively

Preferred Qualifications:

* Experience building innovative digital products in a regulated environment (financial services preferred) with strong security and risk-awareness

* Strong API design skills, integration patterns, and experience building services that can be reused across multiple use cases

* Experience with modern cloud platforms and AI services (e.g., Google Cloud / Vertex AI, Gemini, or comparable platforms)

* Experience with modern front-end frameworks and rapid prototyping approaches (e.g., React/Next.js or equivalent), plus strong backend development depth

* Strong hands-on software engineering experience using one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, Python, Type Script/JavaScript, or similar), with the ability to rapidly learn and apply new technologies as needed

* Demonstrated success creating reusable accelerators (templates, libraries, reference implementations) that scale delivery across teams

* Strong communication skills with the ability to explain architecture decisions, tradeoffs, and outcomes to technical and non-technical…