Capital One trims Discover teams

Capital One is cutting more than 100 Discover application-engineer jobs as it folds Discover’s card business into its own. (paymentsdive.com) The biggest reductions in the Illinois filings are 124 application engineers, 54 senior associate application engineers, and 38 principal application engineers, all slated for May 4. Payments Dive said those workers build and maintain banking software, including finance tools, legacy systems, and cloud services. (paymentsdive.com) A broader February 23 notice to Illinois said at least 1,139 employees in 302 job titles would be affected between May 4 and October 2. Banking Dive reported 532 of those employees work at Riverwoods, 69 are Illinois remote workers, and 538 work remotely outside Illinois but report to Riverwoods. (bankingdive.com) These cuts land less than a year after Capital One closed its acquisition of Discover on May 18, 2025. Capital One announced the deal in February 2024, won final approvals from the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on April 18, 2025, and said Discover customer accounts would remain unchanged immediately after closing. (investor.capitalone.com) (capitalone.com) The integration is centered on card operations because the acquisition gave Capital One control of Discover’s payment networks as well as its credit-card business. Capital One said after closing that it would keep offering Discover-branded cards and add the Discover, Pulse, and Diners Club International networks to its lineup. (investor.capitalone.com) Capital One has not given a public reason for targeting application-engineering roles. A spokesperson told Payments Dive the company has open jobs and encouraged affected employees to apply, while Banking Dive said Capital One described the reductions as part of its “continued journey to integrate Discover with Capital One” and said it was providing severance, benefits, and outplacement support. (paymentsdive.com) (bankingdive.com) The job cuts also arrive as Capital One talks more openly about using artificial intelligence inside the company. Payments Dive pointed to a November 2025 Capital One post saying artificial intelligence is part of a “fundamental transformation” in data work, and to comments from a senior software architecture manager that those tools would become necessary in company workflows. (paymentsdive.com) (capitalone.com) Regulators approved the merger with conditions tied to Discover Bank’s outstanding enforcement issues, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the combined national bank was expected to hold about $660 billion in assets. Capital One also tied the takeover to a five-year, $265 billion community benefits plan covering lending, investment, and philanthropy. (occ.gov) (capitalone.com) For now, the clearest picture of the merger’s next phase is in Riverwoods: software roles are going first, the site is staying open, and Capital One says the integration is still moving ahead. (bankingdive.com) (paymentsdive.com)