Lead AI Engineer

AVEVA is creating software trusted by over 90% of leading industrial companies.

Flexible benefits fund, emergency leave days, adoption leave, 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), pension, life cover, private medical insurance, parental leave, education assistance program. It’s possible we’re hiring for this position in multiple countries, in which case the above benefits apply to the primary location. Specific benefits vary by country, but our packages are similarly comprehensive.

Hybrid working

By default, employees are expected to be in their local AVEVA office three days a week, but some positions are fully office-based. Roles supporting particular customers or markets are sometimes remote.

About AVEVA

AVEVA is a global leader in industrial software with more than 6,500 employees in over 40 countries. Our cutting-edge solutions are used by thousands of enterprises to deliver the essentials of life – such as energy, infrastructure, chemicals, and minerals – safely, efficiently, and more sustainably. We are committed to embedding sustainability and inclusion into our operations, our culture, and our core business strategy.

AVEVA requires all successful applicants to undergo and pass a drug screening and comprehensive background check before they start employment. Background checks will be conducted in accordance with local laws and may include proof of educational attainment, employment history verification, proof of work authorization, criminal records, identity verification, credit check. Certain positions dealing with sensitive and/or third-party personal data may involve additional background check criteria.

AVEVA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to being an exemplary employer with an inclusive culture, developing a workplace environment where all our employees are treated with dignity and respect. We value diversity and the expertise that people from different backgrounds bring to our business. AVEVA provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify your recruiter. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

The job

We are seeking a Senior AI Research Engineer to join our AI Investigation and Incubation team. This is a hands-on engineering role, focused on building, prototyping, validating, and operationalising emerging AI technologies for real-world industrial intelligence use cases. This role is not a pure academic research position. We are specifically looking for engineers who enjoy turning AI research into working systems, making architectural trade-offs, and proving feasibility through code, experiments, and deployable prototypes. The ideal candidate is an ML Research Engineer or Senior Data Scientist with strong practical instincts who thrives at the intersection of experimentation and production.

Key Responsibilities

• Research and evaluate emerging AI technologies with a clear focus on practical applicability and deployability
• Design, build, and iterate on working prototypes and proof-of-concepts, rather than theoretical experiments
• Develop, fine-tune, evaluate, and benchmark AI/ML models using real-world datasets
• Assess AI approaches for scalability, reliability, cost, security, and operational feasibility
• Make and document engineering and architectural decisions related to model deployment and integration
• Collaborate closely with software engineers, architects, and platform teams to ensure AI solutions can transition into pilots and downstream products
• Clearly document findings and present actionable recommendations, not academic papers, to technical and business stakeholders
• Support early-stage pilots and proof-of-value initiatives where AI solutions are exercised in realistic environments

Essential Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or related field
• 8+ years experience in applied AI/ML engineering, data science, or ML research with production exposure
• 3+ years of hands-on experience building, training, evaluating, and deploying ML models
• Strong proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, TensorFlow, HuggingFace)
• Solid understanding of AI/ML deployment patterns, including:

• Batch and real-time inference
• Model APIs and pipelines
• Integration into distributed systems

• Foundation models / LLMs
• Agent-based systems and orchestration
• Context retrieval and augmentation techniques

Desirable Experience

• Experience deploying ML models in cloud environments (Azure preferred, AWS acceptable)
• Familiarity with MLOps practices (model versioning, evaluation, monitoring, iteration)
• Experience working with non-ideal, real-world data rather than curated research datasets
• Exposure to industrial, IoT, manufacturing, energy, or asset-intensive domains

What Success Looks Like

• AI ideas progress beyond research into validated, working prototypes
• Technical investigations result in clear go / no-go recommendations
• Prototypes demonstrate feasibility for real-world deployment, not just benchmark performance
• Strong collaboration with engineering teams to enable transition into pilots or platforms
• Tangible influence on AI roadmap and technology direction through evidence-backed engineering work

R&D at AVEVA

Our global team of 2000+ developers work on an incredibly diverse portfolio of over 75 industrial automation and engineering products, which cover everything from data management to 3D design. AI and cloud are at the centre of our strategy, and we have over 150 patents to our name. Our track record of innovation is no fluke – it’s the result of a structured and deliberate focus on learning, collaboration and inclusivity. If you want to build applications that solve big problems, join us.

UK Benefits include: