Azure ML & MLOps Engineer for Public Sector in Chelmsford

AI / ML Engineer

Fixed Term, 12 months

Full Time, 37 hours per week

£47,615 to £56,017 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Closing Date: 7th June 2026

Interviews: expected to be held w/c 22 June 2026

Essex County Council’s Data, Analytics and Performance function provides high quality data, analytics, and AI-driven insight to support evidence based decision making and improve outcomes for residents. Within this environment, the AI/ML Engineer plays a pivotal role in delivering responsible, secure, and sustainable AI and machine learning solutions.

The Opportunity

As an AI/ML Engineer you will lead the end to end MLOps lifecycle—enabling the organisation to harness data and AI safely, ethically, and at scale. Working closely with Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Information Governance, and service teams, you will deploy, monitor, and maintain robust machine learning systems aligned to public sector governance, responsible AI principles, and UK Local Government standards.

Accountabilities

• Deliver end to end MLOps pipelines using Azure Machine Learning, including training, validation, testing, and deployment workflows, to ensure machine learning solutions are delivered consistently, safely, and at scale.
• Deploy and manage machine learning models using Azure ML managed online endpoints, batch endpoints, and (where appropriate) Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
• Ensure all machine learning systems are robust, transparent, explainable, and auditable, aligned with Responsible AI principles and UK GDPR.
• Implement monitoring and alerting for model performance, data drift, bias, fairness, explainability, and operational health.
• Design, build, and maintain production grade data pipelines that support model training, inference, and retraining.
• Ensure responsible, ethical, and legally compliant use of data across AI solutions.
• Coach and support Data Scientists, Analysts, and other colleagues in Azure Machine Learning and MLOps best practice.
• Contribute to organisation wide AI capability building and adoption.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Educated to degree level in a quantitative field (e.g. Data Science, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or Engineering) or equivalent by experience.
• Strong hands on experience deploying ML solutions in production using Azure Machine Learning.
• Expertise in Azure native MLOps, including model endpoints, pipelines, registries, environments, and compute management.
• Skilled in Python engineering for production ML workflows.
• Familiarity with responsible AI principles, fairness, explainability, and UK GDPR compliance.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary teams and engaging with service stakeholders.
• Ability to distil complex technical concepts into actionable insights for non-technical audiences.

Desirable

• Experience with Azure ML AutoML, Prompt Flow, Responsible AI dashboards, and advanced monitoring capabilities.
• Integration of ML operational metrics into Power BI.
• Relevant certifications (e.g., Azure AI Engineer Associate, Azure Data Scientist Associate, Azure Administrator/Architect).

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process.

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