Senior AI Developer in Reading

About BCN: At BCN we unite people and technology to enable organisations to fly. We believe people and organisations can achieve anything using technology to its full potential. Our role is to help them understand what is possible, implement in the right way and utilise their technology to achieve their ambitions. Which is why we put people front and centre - building client relationships for life and fostering a culture where our people thrive. We are a leading managed IT services provider and technology consultant, specialising in delivering transformative technology solutions with industry-leading client experience across business, public sector and not for profit organisations. From cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data management to power app development, we are dedicated to pioneering technology with Microsoft innovation. Guided by our 3 values of building relationships, customer success and passion and dedication, we are on a mission to make BCN the most trusted tech partner in the UK today.

Focus of the role: This role is for an experienced, hands-on senior developer who wants to be at the forefront of AI-powered software development. You will work predominantly on customer projects, designing and delivering production-grade solutions that integrate large language models, agentic systems, and Azure AI services into real-world applications. As a senior member of the team, you will not only build - you will help define and prove the way we deliver AI solutions to clients, setting the standards, patterns, and practices that the wider business will adopt.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of AI-integrated solutions for client engagements using modern full stack technologies.
• Integrate Azure AI services (Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Services, Azure ML, AI Search) into production applications.
• Architect and build LLM-powered features, agentic workflows, and MCP (Model Context Protocol) integrations to a production standard.
• Work directly with clients to understand requirements, shape solutions, and translate them into working software.
• Provide technical leadership across engagements, setting the standard for code quality, engineering rigour, and AI-assisted delivery.
• Contribute to technical research, prototyping, and proof-of-concept development to support client proposals and win new work.

Shaping the Future Way of Working:

• Define and prove a mature, repeatable pattern for delivering AI solutions that can be scaled across the Delivery team.
• Establish reusable tools, accelerators, and components that increase the speed and quality of AI delivery.
• Explore and evaluate emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and development approaches, bringing the best of them into practice.
• Champion the adoption of AI-assisted development practices (vibe coding, AI testing, agentic development) across the team and wider business.
• Mentor and upskill other developers, building AI delivery capability as the model transitions into the Delivery team.
• Help shape product and delivery strategy by identifying opportunities to package and position AI solutions.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Extensive full stack development experience across one or more of: React/Node.js, .NET/C#, Python/FastAPI.
• Proven track record of delivering production software on client-facing projects, ideally within a consultancy or professional services environment.
• Experience with prompt engineering, RAG architectures, or agentic AI development at scale.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, and Cursor.
• Strong hands-on experience with Azure cloud services and CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps).
• Demonstrable experience integrating LLMs and building AI-powered features in real-world applications.
• Ability to provide technical leadership - setting standards, mentoring others, and defining ways of working.
• Strong problem-solving mindset with a high bar for code quality and engineering rigour.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills - able to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences and build client confidence.
• Comfortable working autonomously and shaping ambiguity into repeatable, scalable delivery.

Advantageous:

• Azure AI Engineer certification or equivalent practical experience.
• Understanding of MCP, vector databases, and evaluation/testing approaches for AI systems.
• Experience mentoring or leading small development teams.

Why BCN?

• The opportunity to shape your own future with industry leading training and development, with access to our BCN Academy.
• Competitive salary with the ability to progress.
• 23-days holiday allowance, increasing with length of service, plus bank holidays, an extra day off on your birthday and the option to buy more!
• Company pension scheme.
• 2 paid leave days per year to volunteer and support your local community.
• Health cash plan with free access to a confidential Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
• Life assurance.
• Cycle to work scheme, electric vehicle scheme, home and tech scheme, and retail discounts.
• Free on-site gym at our Manchester and Leeds locations.
• Long service recognition to celebrate all the milestones.
• Social events such as Summer BBQ, Christmas party and lots more!