We are building the next generation of AI-native platforms for real estate — spanning intelligent marketplaces, agentic transaction workflows and data-driven investment tooling — with engineering in London and operating businesses in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf. The Head of AI Engineering & Architecture owns the end-to-end technical architecture of the platform and leads the engineering organization that builds it. The role converts product and commercial ambition into a scalable, secure and compliant technology estate, and sets the engineering standards, tooling and culture for a fast-scaling AI venture.
Key Responsibilities
- Architecture — Define and own the target-state architecture across the platform: multi-tenant SaaS core, LLM and agentic orchestration layers, retrieval and vector infrastructure, data platform and APIs.
- Engineering leadership — Build, lead and scale the AI engineering function in London — hiring, organization design, performance management and succession — while coordinating with distributed development teams in the Gulf and India.
- AI/ML platform — Establish the model strategy: selection and evaluation of foundation models, fine-tuning and RAG patterns, agent frameworks, guardrails, evaluation harnesses and cost/latency optimization.
- MLOps & reliability — Stand up production-grade MLOps and LLMOps — CI/CD, observability, model monitoring, drift detection, prompt and version management — with clear SLOs for reliability and performance.
- Cloud & infrastructure — Own cloud architecture and infrastructure economics (AWS/Azure/GCP), including data residency design for Saudi-hosted workloads and multi-region deployment.
- Security & compliance — Embed security and privacy by design; ensure the platform meets UK GDPR and Saudi PDPL requirements and supports sector regulatory obligations (REGA/FAL, and SAMA where financial-services use cases apply), working with legal and compliance counterparts.
- AI governance — Institute AI governance: model risk management, human-in-the-loop controls, auditability, red-teaming and responsible-AI standards suitable for board and investor scrutiny.
- Stakeholder partnership — Partner with the Head of AI Product on roadmap feasibility, technical discovery and build/buy/partner decisions; present architecture and delivery status to the CTAIO, board and investors.
- Vendors & partnerships — Manage vendor and partner ecosystem — model providers, cloud, data and tooling — including commercial negotiation and technical due diligence.
Candidate Profile
- 10+ years in software engineering with 5+ years leading engineering or architecture teams, ideally including a scale-up or venture-built environment.
- Demonstrable delivery of production LLM/GenAI systems at scale — agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, evaluation and safety tooling — not solely proofs of concept.
- Deep architectural command of distributed systems, event-driven design, APIs, data platforms (streaming and warehouse/lakehouse) and modern DevSecOps.
- Hands‑on credibility in Python and at least one of TypeScript/Go/Java; strong grasp of vector databases, orchestration frameworks and inference optimization.
- Track record of hiring and developing high-performing engineering teams in London or a comparable talent market.
- Working knowledge of data-protection regimes (UK GDPR essential; Saudi PDPL desirable) and experience operating in regulated or multi-jurisdiction environments.
- Sector exposure to PropTech, marketplaces or fintech is an advantage.
- Executive-level communication — able to translate deep technical trade-offs for boards, investors and non-technical leadership.
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Head of AI Engineering & Architecture in London employer: Confidential
As a leading employer in the data centre operations sector, we offer an exceptional work environment that prioritises employee growth and development. Our collaborative culture fosters innovation and accountability, while our commitment to safety and operational excellence ensures that you will be part of a team that values your contributions. With opportunities for international travel and the chance to lead critical operations across the EMEA region, this role provides a unique platform for impactful leadership and career advancement.
