Principal Applied Scientist Manager, IXP (AI)

TL;DR

Principal Applied Scientist Manager, IXP (AI): Shaping the technical direction and managing a team for an intelligent document processing platform, focusing on AI-driven extraction at enterprise scale with an accent on architectural vision, strategic ownership, and guiding AI system evolution. Focus on designing, building, and operating distributed AI systems globally, and making architectural decisions around hybrid AI systems combining deterministic logic, classical ML, and generative AI.

Location: London, United Kingdom

Company

hirify.global is a category-leading enterprise software company committed to the transformative power of automation.

What you will do

• Define and drive the long-term architectural direction for core backend and platform systems supporting enterprise-scale AI workloads.
• Provide technical leadership, architectural vision, and strategic ownership across multiple services.
• Guide the technical strategy for applied AI systems, balancing external foundational models with internally developed ones.
• Collaborate with research teams to translate experimental models into reliable production systems.
• Directly manage a team of 5–10 engineers, owning their career development and performance.
• Foster a high-performing, inclusive team culture and drive hiring and retention.

Requirements

• Must be based in London, United Kingdom
• 7+ years designing and operating large-scale distributed commercial systems.
• 2+ years of experience directly managing software engineers, including performance management and career development.
• Demonstrated impact beyond a single team, influencing architecture or engineering direction across multiple groups.
• Deep expertise in backend systems, distributed architectures, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Strong experience with cloud ecosystems (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm).
• Proficiency in Python or comparable backend languages; Rust or other systems languages a strong plus.
• Experience with distributed databases and data platforms (e.g., PostgreSQL, CockroachDB, Elasticsearch).
• Excellent communication skills to explain complex technical concepts and coach engineers.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to work in a fast-moving, fast-thinking growth company.
• Flexibility in when and where work gets done depending on business needs.
• Diverse and inclusive workplace providing equal opportunities regardless of background.
• Commitment to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates on request.
• Focus on psychological safety and engineering excellence within teams.