Bank Automation News breaks down automation-specific job postings by the nation’s biggest banks to glean current growth strategies for bank automation.

Two job postings at Fifth Third Bank suggest the bank is revamping its artificial intelligence (AI) program and seeking to step up automation. The $204.7 billion bank is seeking both a director for conversational AI and two intelligent automation lead product owners.

It appears the bank plans to revamp its current conversational AI capabilities.

The new director for conversational AI at Fifth Third will be responsible for developing and implementing strategies across AI-based tools, including chatbots, virtual agents, virtual assistants, machine learning and cognitive services, the job ad states. “The leader will also be responsible for evaluating our current end to end processes and to reimagine and redesign those processes to enable conversational artificial intelligence in our servicing processes,” the ad says.

Meanwhile, the lead product owners will be responsible for managing new features and processing solutions, according to a recent advertisement placed on various job boards. The job description suggests the Cincinnati, Ohio-based bank wants idea people, specifically those willing to push “boundaries to introduce new and innovative digital processing solutions to build trust and exceed customer expectations.”

While the lead product job description makes it clear the position involves working with business partners and IT, it also emphasizes improving customer experience. The ad notes the applicants will be “accountable for always doing the right thing for customers and colleagues and ensures that actions and behaviors drive a positive customer experience.” Likewise, the conversational AI director ad noted that,“The ultimate outcome of the work will be to build customer trust through emotional connections and simplification of complex banking processes.”

This emphasis on the customer experience falls in line with a point made by Fifth Third Bank Chief Digital Officer Melissa Stevens during last year’s fireside chat at Bank Innovation (now Bank Automation) Ignite event, where she explained the bank had focused its digital strategy on meeting human needs.

“We’re not trying to become one of the top billionaire banks,” Stevens said. “We are very comfortable with who we are, which starts with a relationship-based bank.” The relationship-based bank studies customer data to truly understand customer pain points to learn where the bank can help, Stevens added.

Automation product owner is not an overly technical role; in fact, the technical skills align more with the role of business analyst or product manager than a programmer. The applicants should have a solid product management background with experience in digital technologies, including software for automation, document digitalization and workflow coordination, according to the job ad.

The bank prefers the lead product owner hires have Six Sigma certification — a widely used set of techniques and tools for process improvement — and experience working in Agile development as they will work with an Agile scrum team. Scrum is a project management framework that helps teams work together. Risk is also a key focus for the position; the hire will operate within the bank’s risk appetite, and must identify, assess, monitor and report all types of risk.

The conversational AI director position, however, requires more technical and executive experience, someone who can create an enterprisewide strategy for AI services and work with Fifth Third’s data scientist team and manage vendor relationships for third-party AI solutions.

Bank Automation Ignite, on April 13-14, is the event for inspiring automation initiatives and investment in financial services. At the virtual event, financial services professionals can discover new use cases and technologies that are accelerating automation in banking. Learn more and register at www.BankAutomationIgnite.com.