NEW YORK — Wall Street’s artificial intelligence (AI) push is creating demand for people who can build AI systems, integrate them into banking operations, and ensure they operate with proper controls.
Job postings for AI-related roles at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Capital One rose 49% in 2026 from the previous year to 139,819 listings, according to an analysis by enterprise hiring data firm Draup, as CNBC first reported.
The increase comes as banks move beyond chatbot experiments and begin using AI systems across trading, wealth management, client services and other operations.
The shift is changing what banks are looking for when they hire. Instead of relying only on engineers and data scientists to develop models, financial institutions increasingly need workers who understand both technology and the business processes where AI will be used, CNBC reported Friday.
AI Agents Create Demand for New Skills
One of the fastest-growing areas is work involving AI agents, according to Draup. These systems can perform tasks with limited human involvement and, in some cases, coordinate with other AI systems to complete a larger assignment.
References to agent orchestration in job postings increased 1,721% this year, Draup found. The skill involves determining which AI agents should handle different parts of a process, how they should interact and where a human employee needs to step in.
Banks Are Moving AI Into Daily Operations
Reuters reported in July that Morgan Stanley, BNY, UBS, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Citi were expanding their use of AI agents for tasks including client services, trading and wealth management.
BNY has treated some AI systems like digital employees, while other banks have tested them for specific business functions.
That expansion creates demand for employees who can move AI from an experimental tool into a system that works inside a large financial institution.
A process that appears simple can become complicated once several AI systems handle it. An automated workflow may need one agent to examine information, another to analyze documents and another to check whether the result meets regulatory requirements.
Employees must determine how those systems interact and what happens when the technology encounters an exception.
Banks Need Workers to Control AI Risks
Banks are also hiring around the risks created by wider AI use.
The Financial Stability Board recently said financial institutions are using AI to change their operations and services but warned that rapid adoption can introduce or amplify risks.
The organization proposed 12 practices covering AI governance and the different stages of designing and deploying AI systems.
Governance and Security Become Part of the Hiring Push
That makes areas such as AI governance, cybersecurity, risk management and responsible AI part of the hiring picture.
Draup found that references to responsible AI in job postings rose 657% this year. Mentions of AI governance and risk management increased 394% and 359%, respectively.
The growth comes as banks determine how much work they can safely hand off to AI and where employees must remain involved.
AI Is Also Changing Existing Bank Jobs
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has acknowledged that the bank has already displaced some workers through AI.
He said the company has “huge redeployment plans” and has offered other positions to employees affected by the technology.
That means the AI hiring boom is not simply about adding new workers. Banks are also trying to retrain employees as their duties change.
JPMorgan, for example, has advertised roles focused on AI knowledge and employee enablement, including work to help employees understand and adopt AI tools across the organization. The bank has also sought employees to help embed AI into business workflows.
The larger U.S. labor market shows a similar split between jobs that benefit from AI adoption and those facing pressure from automation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects data scientist employment to increase 33.5% from 2024 to 2034, while information security analyst employment is projected to grow 28.5%.
Software developer employment is projected to rise 15.8%, adding more than 267,000 jobs. At the same time, BLS projects declines in several occupations affected by productivity gains from technology, including customer service representatives and credit authorizers, checkers and clerks.
Workers who can analyze business processes, challenge automated decisions, understand financial operations and manage technology are becoming part of the AI build-out.
The technology may perform more tasks, but financial institutions still need people to decide which tasks to automate, monitor the results, and intervene when something goes wrong.
