For someone who has spent a decade building banking technology, the job title alone is a poor way to judge this opportunity. SBI's Advertisement CRPD/SCO/2026-27/30, dated 17 October 2026, covers six very different responsibilities: leading the bank's AI programme, overseeing risk analytics, designing AI governance, running data and model operations, shaping business-facing AI solutions, and defining enterprise AI architecture.
There is one unreserved (UR) vacancy for each position. The engagement starts as a three-year fixed-term contract; any extension of up to two more years is at SBI's discretion and on mutually agreed terms. It is not a regular Probationary Officer or permanent Specialist Cadre appointment.
The unusual restriction deserves attention before everything else: a candidate may apply for only one of these six posts. The bank's notice also explains how it handles multiple completed applications and forfeited fees. Treat that administrative provision as a warning, not as an invitation to apply to several posts and let SBI choose for you.
📅 Dates and official application
- Notice: 17 October 2026, advertisement CRPD/SCO/2026-27/30.
- Eligibility measured on: 30 September 2026, including age, education and post-qualification experience.
- Online registration and fee payment: 19 October to 9 November 2026.
- Application route: SBI official current openings—find advertisement 30 and use its own Apply Online link. The bank does not accept a mailed application for this recruitment.
- Full source: Download the official 18-page recruitment advertisement.
The advertisement specifies the closing date, but no separately verified final clock time is stated here; applicants should not assume the portal remains open until 11:59 pm.
📊 Six vacancies, six distinct careers
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| GM & Chief AI Officer | 1 | 40–55 years | 15 years overall; 3 in senior leadership | ₹160 lakh |
| DGM, Risk and Operational Analytics | 1 | 35–50 years | 10 years overall; 2 in senior leadership | ₹120 lakh |
| DGM, AI Governance and Compliance | 1 | 35–50 years | 10 years overall; leadership wording needs care | ₹120 lakh |
| DGM, Data Engineering, Model Application Development and AI Ops | 1 | 35–50 years | 10 years overall; 2 in senior leadership | ₹120 lakh |
| AI Solution Architect | 1 | 30–45 years | 8 years overall; 3 in solutioning-related work | ₹90 lakh |
| Enterprise AI Architect | 1 | 30–45 years | 8 years overall; 3 in architecture-related work | ₹90 lakh |
| Total | 6 | | | |
All six notified posts are UR; this does not prohibit an eligible SC/ST/OBC/EWS/PwBD applicant from competing under the applicable UR standards. SC, ST and PwBD applicants pay no application fee, even though no separate reserved vacancy appears in this six-seat table. The post count is not six per grade: it is exactly one per named role.
Which academic qualifications actually open the door?
The four GM/DGM positions share a fairly specific qualification list. SBI accepts B.E., B.Tech or M.Tech in the notified computer/electronics/related engineering branches, or the named alternatives M.Sc. in Statistics or Computer Science, M.A. in Statistics, M.Stat. and MCA. Some equivalent engineering disciplines are permitted by the notice, but candidates should not assume every degree labelled 'technology' qualifies. A finance-specialised MBA/PGDM and certain AI/ML/NLP certifications appear among preferred qualifications, not as substitutes for the mandatory degree route.
The AI Solution Architect role takes a different path. Its bachelor's/master's options include Computer Science, IT, Data Science, AI, Business Administration and Management, or a related discipline. A management graduate is therefore not excluded merely for lacking a B.Tech, but must still prove the required specialist solutioning experience.
The Enterprise AI Architect position accepts a bachelor's/master's in Computer Science, IT, Engineering, Data Science, AI or an equivalent discipline. Its emphasis is enterprise or platform architecture; an impressive collection of certifications cannot replace the required practical architecture experience. These distinctions matter especially for candidates who qualify for one architect title but not the other.
SBI tests work experience after the basic qualification and excludes teaching or training experience from the eligibility calculation. The advertised experience should be supported by employer records showing work dates, designation/level, the nature of duties and actual responsibilities. A generic relieving letter that shows only employment dates may not establish a specific senior-leadership or production-architecture requirement.
Why the GM role is different from the three DGMs
The GM & Chief AI Officer is expected to lead a bank-wide AI agenda, not simply oversee one predictive model or data science team. The mandatory profile calls for at least 15 years in Banking/BFSI/IT and three years of genuine senior leadership across AI, analytics, model oversight, governance and transformation. Those leadership years must include engagement with business, operations and technology functions and the management of a substantial team. SBI expressly excludes work done solely as an individual contributor from those three years.
The DGM for Risk and Operational Analytics is closer to a banking decision-control role than a general analytics-management job. Credit underwriting, portfolio early warnings, fraud detection, operational risk and model monitoring are relevant examples. The two senior-leadership years should be supported by projects that affected material banking processes, not only by reports or dashboards prepared for someone else's decisions.
For the DGM in AI Governance and Compliance, the evidence shifts toward responsible AI, model-risk controls, independent validation, privacy, security, regulatory obligations and audit remediation. There is a material inconsistency within the official PDF: the mandatory experience paragraph specifies two-plus years in senior leadership, while a later explanatory bullet refers to three years. Neither wording should be silently discarded. Applicants with only two completed qualifying leadership years should request clarification through SBI's official recruitment query channel before relying on the less restrictive reading.
The DGM for Data Engineering, Model Application Development and AI Ops must be able to explain what happened after an AI application was built. SBI calls for enterprise data pipelines, AI/ML application deployment, integrations, availability, performance, security, incident response and disaster recovery. Someone whose record is entirely experimental model development may struggle to document the required production leadership, even with strong machine-learning credentials.
The two architects solve different problems
An AI Solution Architect helps business teams turn a use case into a feasible, integrated AI product. Translating requirements, weighing design alternatives, establishing a solution blueprint and aligning delivery teams are central. Experience in analytics solutioning, digital transformation or technology consulting can be relevant to the required three specialist years.
An Enterprise AI Architect is responsible for a reusable architecture across the organisation: AI infrastructure, model-serving patterns, secure integrations, GPU platforms, enterprise standards, scalability, resilience and governance. It is the difference between designing a particular AI solution and defining the shared environment in which many such solutions can operate. The bank wants at least three years in enterprise, platform, data or AI architecture within the broader eight years of technology experience.
Neither architect position carries the same stated 10-minute interview-presentation condition as posts 1–4. That difference does not make the architect interview casual; both still face the same 100-mark interview stage.
🎯 How shortlisting and interviews work
There is no written examination or CBT announced in this notice. First, an SBI committee shortlists applicants using criteria it determines. Meeting the published minimum qualification and experience does not guarantee an invitation. Shortlisted applicants attend an interview carrying 100 marks. SBI will decide the minimum qualifying interview marks; a numerical qualifying mark or category cutoff has not been published.
Candidates for serial numbers 1–4—the GM and three DGMs—must give a 10-minute presentation during the interview on relevant work, projects and achievements. The bank has not published a prescribed slide count or topic list. A sensible way to prepare, based on the role profiles, is to present one or two projects with the business problem, your authority, implementation decisions, controls, team responsibility and measurable outcomes. That is practical preparation advice, not an official interview syllabus.
The final merit list is based on the interview score alone. CTC is negotiated individually at the interview or afterwards; it is not a separately scored examination. If candidates have identical marks at the cutoff point, SBI uses age in descending order to determine their relative place on the merit list. Interview date and venue have not been announced in the advertisement.
💰 The advertised ₹90 lakh–₹1.60 crore figures are ceilings
It would be misleading to describe these as six posts paying ₹90 lakh–₹1.60 crore. SBI calls the figures upper ranges of negotiable annual CTC, with the eventual agreement depending on experience, existing earnings and place of posting. At the negotiated CTC level, the stated design comprises 90% fixed and 10% performance-linked variable pay. The variable part is not automatic.
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| Chief AI Officer | ₹160 lakh/year | ₹144 lakh | ₹16 lakh |
| Each DGM | ₹120 lakh/year | ₹108 lakh | ₹12 lakh |
| Each Architect | ₹90 lakh/year | ₹81 lakh | ₹9 lakh |
These are arithmetic illustrations at the top of the advertised range. They are neither an offer to every successful candidate nor monthly take-home figures. The PDF provides a performance-linked variable-pay schedule; it also contains differing wording around annual increment limits. Applicants should check the actual negotiated contract rather than assuming either an automatic raise or guaranteed variable pay.
The initial contract is three years, potentially renewable by up to two years at SBI's discretion and mutually agreed terms. The advertisement also provides for termination by either party with three months' notice or compensation in lieu, according to the stated contract conditions. SBI may post a selected candidate in Mumbai or elsewhere in India depending on administrative needs.
💳 Application fee, evidence and common submission mistakes
General, EWS and OBC: ₹750 non-refundable application/intimation charges, plus any applicable gateway transaction charges. SC, ST and PwBD: no application/intimation charge.
Before registration, download SBI's prescribed biodata and CTC-negotiation formats from the advertisement-30 entry on SBI Careers. The application process calls for a photograph and signature, biodata, resume, identity and date-of-birth proof, degree and mark-sheet evidence, relevant experience certificates, applicable reservation/disability documents, proof of salary such as Form 16 or a recent payslip, and the CTC form. SBI's upload instructions generally require A4 PDF documents not exceeding 500 KB each, with separate JPEG size rules for photograph and signature.
There are two practical traps. First, the final, fee-paid submission cannot ordinarily be edited on request afterwards; check the chosen post code, qualifications, experience dates and certificates before payment. Second, the most important information for these senior roles may not appear on a degree certificate at all: it is proof of what you actually led. Candidates already employed in government, a PSU or a nationalised bank should also be ready with the applicable NOC at the interview. Save the completed application and payment receipt and keep the registered email and mobile number active.
🧭 Small details that change the application decision
One-post restriction. A governance expert who also builds AI platforms cannot simply apply to the DGM Governance, DGM AI Ops and Enterprise Architect posts together. Compare the mandatory wording and your documentary evidence first.
Outstation interview travel. SBI provides reimbursement of actual economy-class airfare for eligible shortlisted GM/DGM interviewees. For the two architects, reimbursement is limited to actual economy airfare or ₹15,000 for the round trip, whichever is lower, subject to the notice's conditions.
UR is not a fee category. All seats are advertised as UR, but the fee exemption still applies to SC/ST/PwBD applicants as stated in the notice. Eligibility against UR vacancies is judged under the applicable UR requirements.
Separate SBI recruitment cycles. This specialist AI advertisement should not be confused with other SBI contractual or regular openings. See SBI's other published opportunities on SarkariSapna or browse the wider Banking Finance directory. Each SBI advertisement has its own application, qualifications and closing date.
Original documents and future updates
Use the official detailed advertisement for the precise clauses, the SBI current-openings page for the actual application and downloadable annexures, and the SBI recruitment query page if a material eligibility clause is unclear. SBI says any corrigendum, shortlist, interview advice and selection updates will be published through its official careers channels. The application window closes on 9 November 2026; the interview schedule and result dates remain unannounced.
