Principal AI Engineer in England

Alvarium Talent is partnering with a fast‑growing, Data and AI consultancy that specialises in helping organisations unlock the true value of their data. The consultancy works with ambitious private and public sector clients to deliver market‑leading data and AI solutions, including AI readiness strategy, data literacy and culture transformation, real‑time reporting, and complex data integration across mergers and acquisitions.

We are seeking an AI Engineering Lead who combines deep technical leadership with outstanding consulting, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills. This is a client‑facing, engineering‑led role where you will shape AI strategy and delivery, take solutions into production, and lead a high‑performing AI engineering team.

Role Purpose

The AI Engineering Lead will provide technical, delivery, and consulting leadership across multiple AI initiatives. You will act as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders while remaining hands‑on in the design and delivery of production‑grade AI and agentic solutions. This role is central to ensuring AI solutions are robust, scalable, secure, responsibly designed, and aligned to real business outcomes. You will define engineering standards, guide teams through complex delivery challenges, and help clients make confident AI investment and delivery decisions.

Core Responsibilities

• Client & Consulting Responsibilities
  • Act as a trusted AI advisor, translating complex technical concepts into clear, business‑relevant language.
  • Lead client conversations, workshops, and architecture/design sessions, clarifying objectives and guiding stakeholders through trade‑offs.
  • Shape AI solution options and delivery approaches using a structured consulting mindset, balancing value, risk, and responsible AI principles.
  • Support AI roadmap development, pre‑sales activity, and ongoing account growth.
• Technical Delivery & Engineering
  • Architect, build, and deploy production‑ready AI/ML and agentic solutions.
  • Provide hands‑on technical leadership across delivery teams, ensuring engineering quality, security, scalability, and maintainability.
  • Implement production‑grade engineering patterns including CI/CD, testing frameworks, observability, model registries, and IaC.
  • Design and operate robust model evaluation, monitoring, and drift‑detection processes.
  • Integrate AI solutions with cloud platforms, modern data stacks, and enterprise systems.
  • Define, uphold, and continuously evolve AI engineering standards across the practice.
  • Coach, mentor, and develop AI engineers, fostering a high‑performing and collaborative culture.
  • Contribute to AI capability strategy, reusable accelerators, and repeatable delivery patterns.
  • Rapidly onboard emerging AI technologies, tools, and frameworks and share knowledge across teams.
  • Evaluate and adopt new approaches, including LLM frameworks, agent orchestration, vector databases, and prompt engineering patterns.
  • Champion experimentation and responsible innovation.

Role Requirements

• Proven experience delivering AI solutions into production, ideally in enterprise or regulated environments.
• Experience working in a consulting or professional services environment.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals (Python essential).
• Experience with cloud AI services and modern data platforms, such as Databricks and Amazon SageMaker / Bedrock.
• Practical knowledge of MLOps, including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, monitoring, and operational observability.
• Experience leading technical delivery teams and setting high engineering standards.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Exposure to responsible AI, governance, and risk management frameworks.
• Experience supporting pre‑sales, solution design, or account growth activities.
• Background in data‑intensive industries or complex transformation programmes.

Qualities We Are Looking For

• Strong consulting presence with the ability to command a room and guide senior decision‑making with clarity and empathy.
• Structured problem‑solver who can frame ambiguity, articulate trade‑offs, and align teams around a shared approach.
• Curious mindset with a genuine passion for emerging AI technologies.
• Collaborative leader who enjoys mentoring and growing others.
• Proactive, accountable, and delivery‑focused, with a bias for action and quality.

Why Apply

• Working on cutting‑edge AI solutions across a variety of sectors.
• Exposure to the Microsoft Azure ecosystem, Databricks, AI Foundry, and the latest agentic and LLM‑based approaches.
• Playing a key leadership role within a rapidly growing AI practice that values learning, experimentation, and responsible innovation.
• Having genuine influence over technical strategy, engineering standards, and client outcomes—without the bureaucracy of large consultancies.

If you are an AI Engineering Leader who thrives at the intersection of technology, consulting, and real‑world impact, this is an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of AI delivery.

Please note: This role does not offer Visa sponsorship.