Lead AI Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Lead AI Engineer (AI): Designing, building, and operationalizing advanced AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI systems at enterprise scale, bridging the gap between AI prototypes and embedding data and AI solutions in business. Focus on designing and delivering end-to-end AI/ML systems, architecting Generative AI solutions including RAG pipelines, and embedding safety and ethical mechanisms across the AI lifecycle.

Location: Must have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. Whilst you will have an office base location in Birmingham, Bristol, London, Manchester, or Newcastle, you must be fully flexible in terms of assignment location, as roles may involve periods away from home at short notice.

Company

hirify.global is a global consulting firm focusing on designing, building, and operationalizing advanced AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI systems for clients.

What you will do

• Design and deliver end-to-end AI/ML systems, from data preparation to model deployment and monitoring.
• Deliver solutions using the latest GenAI and Agentic Frameworks, such as ADK, Langgraph, Microsoft Agent Framework, and Llamaindex.
• Translate AI use case requirements into data and AI architectures using suitable cloud services across hyperscalars.
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams to execute complex requirements and architect Generative AI solutions (RAG pipelines, agentic workflows).
• Embed safety, evaluation, and assurance mechanisms across the AI lifecycle, ensuring ethical and responsible solutions.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Data Scientists, and Business stakeholders to ensure AI solutions drive business value and impact.

Requirements

• Experience working in a major Consulting firm or in industry with a consulting mindset, successfully operating in a matrixed organization.
• Proven track record in designing and implementing MLOPs strategy and delivering AI/ML solutions at scale, from concept to production.
• Deep understanding of Generative AI and Agentic AI, including RAG pipelines, embeddings, evaluation harnesses, and orchestration frameworks.
• Experience designing cloud-native data and AI architectures across Azure, GCP, AWS, and/or Databricks.
• Ability to demonstrate the potential that scaling AI unlocks business value and impact.
• Experience with deploying and scaling AI solutions using at least one major cloud platform (Azure Foundry, AI Studio, OpenAI, AKS; GCP Vertex AI, Cloud Run; AWS Bedrock, SageMaker).
• Experience building and automating AI/ML pipelines using tools like MLflow, Kubeflow, Azure ML, Vertex Pipelines, Airflow, or Google ADK.
• Hands-on experience with Generative and Agentic AI frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, Autogen, or Google ADK.
• Ability to design and implement RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, MCP, and integrate with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face).
• Proficiency in CI/CD and containerisation technologies including GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• You need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years to be able to apply for this role.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with evaluating AI system performance, including prompt evaluation and A/B testing.
• Understanding of modern data patterns such as lakehouse architectures, vector databases, and relational/NoSQL stores.
• Familiarity with API gateways, event streaming, and general integration patterns.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid working model with flexible working arrangements available to all UK employees.
• Emphasis on employee wellbeing with trained ‘Mental Health Champions’ and access to wellbeing apps.
• Focus on using technology for positive social impact, including reducing carbon footprint.
• Opportunity to work with the latest tech and contribute to internal projects and thought leadership in emerging AI topics.