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Modern banks need to operate like tech companies: agile, data-driven, and rooted in real engineering. Research from McKinsey shows banks can see a 20 to 30% increase in their development teams’ productivity by deploying generative AI throughout the entire product life cycle. Additionally, IDC data links cloud adoption to better security, increased IT productivity, greater business agility and resiliency, and faster time to market.
Capital One recognized the importance of being a tech-forward bank years ago, and it’s shaped the company’s business strategy ever since. “We operate as a technology company that does banking,” said Mihir Vora, Senior Distinguished Engineer at Capital One. “There is a deep commitment to engineering excellence that drives real value for our customers.”
The company went all-in on the public cloud and modernized its data ecosystem for real-time intelligence, creating a foundation for machine learning. Capital One redefined how it built software and created internal platforms and tools that help developers move fast while staying well-governed. Those early investments power the ability for thousands of technologists to build products and experiences that help more than 100 million customers.
Capital One continues to build on this transformation by developing its own tools and talent, while treating its technology stack as a competitive edge. It’s a company that is building on better data, running in the cloud, expanding capabilities with AI and scientific rigor, transforming how software is built, and investing deeply in its own people. It’s even commercializing solutions it has built internally to help other companies manage their data in the cloud through Capital One Software.
To show how the company is treating tech as a value driver, several Capital One Distinguished Engineers shared their perspectives on how the company is building for the future of banking.
Before a model can be trained or a developer can build with confidence, the data needs to be trustworthy. Treating data as a driver of innovation has enabled Capital One to invest in building a scalable data ecosystem with high-quality data that’s available to fuel better business decisions. Capital One has learned that central platforms are the easiest way to govern data at scale. Standards are the rules that make data consistent and usable across teams, which can then be delivered at scale through automation. Automating data management within central platforms makes it so that data is well-governed and easy to find and use across the business. Engineers and analysts can confidently work with reliable data, whether the use case is catching fraud in real time, personalizing a customer experience, or training a new model. This approach helps Capital One manage more proprietary data, ultimately fueling its ability to build proprietary AI solutions.
Early on, Capital One realized that moving to the cloud was necessary to operate with the speed and agility required to succeed in the digital age. The cloud serves as the foundation for technology at Capital One, offering the flexibility, scalability, and speed necessary to deliver innovative customer experiences. In practice, this means engineers can provision infrastructure in minutes instead of weeks; there is the necessary computing power to train and deploy AI models without slowing other workloads; and customers can count on fast, reliable services — even during peak demand.
Capital One has remained at the forefront of cloud innovation, embracing technologies like serverless to simplify development and accelerate delivery. Serverless allows engineers to focus on creating business value instead of managing infrastructure — reducing operational complexity, improving scalability and reliability, and enabling teams to ship faster without compromising security.
“Serverless really lets developers focus on the fun stuff,” said Brian McNamara, Distinguished Engineer. “And what I mean by fun stuff is actually writing code to solve business problems.”
With the cloud as its foundation, Capital One can continue to take advantage of the latest capabilities that empower its teams to drive value for customers.
As part of a broader tech transformation, Capital One recognized the need to evolve how it builds, tests, and maintains software. In addition to modernizing its data ecosystem and moving to the cloud, Capital One rebuilt its tech stack, converged to enterprise platforms, and declared an open source–first approach. The company adopted new processes and patterns to improve the quality and speed of software delivery — like DevOps, low-code and no-code, and APIs. Today, it’s continuing to invest in the tools, technology, and processes that reduce friction and help engineers focus on the creative aspect of engineering.
At the core of this is the effort to enable engineers to do less manual and operational work by automating as many steps of the lifecycle as possible. Automation is being deployed at scale through enterprise platforms and tools, like the use of a single software delivery pipeline and integrated test automation. Technologies like serverless and Kubernetes help engineers abstract away the complexity of managing infrastructure or worrying about the environment they’re working in. Governance is embedded at the onset where possible, so developers can confidently move fast.
Simplifying the developer experience platform requires streamlined tooling and reduced complexity. For example, Capital One built a centralized hub where teams can access tools, documentation, and more. The goal is to reduce the time spent hunting for resources or navigating inconsistencies. Everything they need to build and ship is right at their fingertips.
This combination of reduced manual work and complexity helps engineers focus on creativity, collaboration, and faster software delivery. From open source projects to a growing patent portfolio, Capital One’s developer culture goes beyond innovation to true invention.
Attracting and developing world-class talent is necessary to solve the most challenging problems in finance. At Capital One, offering continuous learning through training, classes, events, and certifications is critical to helping engineers stay ahead of evolving technologies. Upskilling and reskilling programs help talent embrace new tools and specialties, from cloud engineering to AI model development, and grow from within the company.
Career growth in tech doesn’t have to mean becoming a manager. At Capital One, technical leadership roles like the Distinguished Engineer program help technologists grow as deep experts while mentoring others and shaping engineering standards. Opportunities to contribute to open-source projects and develop patents help engineers expand their expertise and grow their careers.
These capabilities are built on a foundation of well-governed data, cloud infrastructure, enterprise platforms, and more — but none of it is possible without world-class technology talent. Chat Concierge, which was built using Capital One's multi-agentic AI framework, enhances their coding experience, allowing them to focus on more creative problem-solving. Developers also receive robust training, learning, generative and agentic AI tools to help them stay at the forefront of AI skills.
"We treat data as a product, always thinking about the end consumer. Using standard platforms means robust checks and balances are already in place."
Sushma Onkar
Distinguished Engineer
"From the moment code is safe for production, we can scale it almost immediately. That's something that was never possible in the data center days."
Dan Furman
Senior Distinguished Engineer
"Working with foundational models has been a game-changer. The potential for new applications and growth is huge."
Sonu Chopra-Khullar
Distinguished Machine Learning Engineer
"Capital One has really been approaching AI with strong governance in place from the very beginning — and that has helped ensure a high-quality experience. But at the same time, we've been able to deliver incredibly innovative AI solutions."
Melanie Freed
Distinguished Machine Learning Engineer
Better data and automation empower engineers to go beyond innovation
Building on better data
"Developers have the agency to be able to pick the best tool for the job as long as it meets certain criteria, and we have controls in place that guarantee that those are adhered to."
Steve Husak
Distinguished Engineer
The bank of the future
Inside Capital One’s journey from legacy to leading-edge technology
Inside a modern data ecosystem
Publishing and streaming platform
Data transformation platform
Cloud-based storage and warehousing infrastructure
Data access layer
Multiple types of data are collected in real time and checked for completeness and quality as they are brought into the ecosystem.
Central platform for users to transform existing data into derived data, customized for specific use cases.
Scalable and flexible infrastructure designed to keep data in its raw and complete form.
Unified enterprise platforms where users can consume well-governed data.
Publishing and streaming platform
Data transformation platform
Cloud-based storage and warehousing infrastructure
Data access layer
Cloud-first
organization
Practical AI,
embedded across the business
Transforming software development
Investing in people who build
Helping developers grow
Structured learning paths
Certifications at scale
Technical career paths
Invention enablement
Training courses teach engineers the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in areas such as AI, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.
Engineers can pursue key credentials that support their work in the cloud, cybersecurity, data, and more.
Multiple tracks — including a Distinguished Engineer program — allow technologists to grow as experts, mentors, and leaders.
Dedicated programs help engineers turn great ideas into patents or open source projects.
Structured learning paths
Certifications at scale
Technical career paths
Invention enablement
Find out more about the technologies, tools, and people shaping the future of finance at Capital One.
Learn more
Less time managing infrastructure, more time creative problem-solving
Reduced complexity gives developers the freedom to move fast and with confidence
Why a cloud-first foundation matters
Flexible resource lifecycle
Engineers can spin up and shut down environments in near real time, accelerating project timelines and experimentation.
Elastic computing power
AI models and high-volume workloads can scale seamlessly without compromising performance.
Always-on resilience
Services can stay available and responsive, even during surges in demand.
Secure by design
Built-in protections for regulated workloads and sensitive data.
Speed to market
New features and updates reach customers faster, with fewer operational bottlenecks.
How AI is driving value at Capital One
AI that powers customer experience
AI that supports internal teams and developers
Fraud
Detection
Generative and agentic AI coding help to proactively surface and mitigate fraud in the time it takes a customer to swipe their card.
Chat Concierge
Multi-agentic AI framework helps car buyers decide on the best choice for them.
Supercharged Coding
Generative AI coding tools help engineers write and debug code faster.
Agent Servicing
Generative AI enables agents to access information to answer customer questions more quickly and efficiently.
AI that powers customer experience
AI that supports internal teams and developers
Better practices for better productivity
Embedded
governance
Controls are integrated into the development lifecycle, freeing engineers to innovate with confidence.
Pipelines with built-in quality checks and guardrails that catch issues early without slowing down delivery.
A centralized experience that connects engineers with the tools, documentation, and alerts they need, so they can spend less time searching and more time building.
Swarna Kavi
Senior Distinguished Engineer
"Innovation isn't just encouraged – it's rewarded. From hackathons to cross-team events, we have great opportunities to learn outside our work."
"Capital One offers unique and flexible opportunities for growth, allowing you to learn in a structured program or at your own pace."
John Watson
Distinguished Engineer
Automated
testing
Streamlined
tooling
Building on its investment in a strong data foundation and modern tech stack, Capital One is integrating AI throughout the business, from fraud detection to customer support to developer tooling.
Hundreds of use cases are in production that leverage AI or ML to help drive value for customers and associates. A proprietary multi-agentic AI workflow enhances the customer experience for car buyers and dealers. A proprietary generative AI agent servicing tool helps agents access information to resolve customer questions more quickly and efficiently. A transformer-based AI model enables a unique customer experience across digital and mobile channels.
Publishing and streaming platform
Data transformation platform
Cloud-based storage and warehousing infrastructure
Data access layer
Structured learning paths
Certifications at scale
Technical career paths
Invention enablement
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