Graduate AI Engineer

About Allica Bank

Allica is the UK’s fastest growing company - and the fastest-growing financial technology (Fintech) firm ever. Our purpose is to help established SMEs, one of the last major underserved opportunities in Fintech. Established SMEs are the backbone of local communities - representing over a third of our economy - yet have been largely neglected both by traditional high street banks and modern fintech providers.

Our Engineering team is part of the wider organisation and is responsible for building products and technology solutions that create value across the business. We work closely with Product Managers and Designers to identify opportunities, solve customer and business challenges, and deliver high-quality products and experiences. Through collaboration, experimentation, and continuous improvement, we build solutions that support teams across the organisation and help drive meaningful outcomes.

We're looking for exceptional graduates who are excited by the opportunity to learn, contribute, and help build the next generation of products and capabilities.

Role Description

As a Graduate AI Engineer, you'll join a team building and deploying AI solutions in our Autonomous Lending Tribe. This role is ideal for someone who has recently graduated from a leading university and is excited about applying Generative AI, Machine Learning, and modern software engineering practices to solve real business problems.

You may not have extensive industry experience yet, but you have demonstrated your capabilities through academic projects, internships, hackathons, research, open‑source contributions, or personal projects. As a Graduate AI Engineer, you'll work closely with experienced engineers, product managers, and business stakeholders to design, build, and deploy AI solutions that create meaningful impact. You'll have the opportunity to work across the full lifecycle—from experimentation and prototyping through to production deployment and monitoring.

Principal Accountabilities

• AI Application Development
• Build AI‑powered applications using Large Language Models (LLMs) and modern AI frameworks.
• Develop Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions using vector databases, embeddings, and document retrieval techniques.
• Experiment with prompt engineering, agent workflows, and emerging AI capabilities.
• Build backend services and APIs that power AI applications.
• Contribute to frontend applications using React.js or similar technologies.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well‑tested code.
• Product Development
• Work closely with product and engineering teams to understand customer problems and develop AI‑driven solutions.
• Rapidly prototype ideas and iterate based on feedback and real‑world usage.
• Contribute to the end‑to‑end delivery of AI features from concept through deployment.
• Learning & Innovation
• Stay current with developments in Generative AI, Machine Learning, and software engineering.
• Evaluate new tools, frameworks, and approaches that could improve our products and engineering practices.
• Participate in technical discussions and contribute ideas across the team.

Personal Attributes & Experience

• Curiosity and a genuine passion for technology and AI.
• A builder mindset with a desire to create products that people use.
• Ownership and accountability.
• Strong problem‑solving ability and analytical thinking.
• A willingness to learn quickly and embrace feedback.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Comfort working in fast‑moving and evolving environments.

Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field from a reputable university.
• Strong understanding of Machine Learning fundamentals and the AI development lifecycle.
• Experience building AI, Machine Learning, or Generative AI projects through academic work, internships, hackathons, research, open‑source contributions or personal projects.
• Strong programming skills in Python.
• Understanding of Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, and Generative AI concepts.
• Familiarity with Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG), embeddings, and vector databases.
• Understanding of software engineering fundamentals, including testing, Git, and version control.
• Excellent problem‑solving, communication, and analytical skills.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Lang Chain, Lang Graph, Llama Index, or similar frameworks.
• Experience using OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or open‑source LLMs.
• Experience building web applications using React.js, Next.js, or TypeScript.
• Experience developing backend services using Python, Java, or Kotlin.
• Exposure to cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Experience building and deploying an end‑to‑end AI solution for a real‑world business use case.
• Open‑source contributions, technical blogs, hackathon achievements, research publications, or notable side projects.

Working at Allica Bank

At Allica Bank we want to ensure our employees have the right tools and environment in which to succeed in their role and in support of our customers. Our employees are at the heart of everything we do, so our benefits are designed with you in mind:

• Full onboarding support and continued development opportunities
• Options for flexible working
• Regular social activities
• Pension contributions
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Private health cover
• Life assurance
• Family friendly policies including enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave

Don’t tick every box?

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the skills or requirements listed in the job description. If you think you’ll be a good fit, we’d still love to hear from you!

Flexible working

We know the ‘9‑to‑5’ isn’t right for everyone. That’s why Allica Bank is fully committed to flexible and hybrid working. Please let us know what is best for you and, if we can, we will do our best to accommodate.

Diversity

We’re a diverse bunch here at Allica, with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds and lifestyles. Our openness and differences make us stronger, and we want everybody to feel comfortable bringing as much of themselves to work with them as they like.