At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a team to develop impactful AI solutions from concept to production.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking software business driving AI transformation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, bonus, remote work, and employee support perks.
- Other info: Opportunity for career growth and hands-on leadership in a dynamic environment.
- Why this job: Shape the future of AI while influencing architecture and product direction.
- Qualifications: Experience in AI delivery, backend engineering, and strong leadership skills.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
The opportunity to join an established software business at the beginning of a major AI transformation and take technical ownership of its new AI capability. This isn't an isolated innovation role or a stream of disposable prototypes. You'll remain hands-on, leading a small team to take AI ideas from an initial business problem through to secure, scalable functionality within established commercial products. You'll have the backing of a large international technology group, combined with the freedom and visibility of a close-knit R&D team. You'll influence the architecture, engineering standards, delivery approach and long-term AI roadmap.
Responsibilities:
- Provide hands-on technical leadership across a multidisciplinary AI engineering team
- Shape the architecture and technical direction for AI across the product suite
- Lead the delivery of LLM, RAG and agentic AI solutions
- Take ideas from discovery and proof of concept through to production
- Establish standards for evaluation, security, observability, governance and cost control
- Work directly with product and operational stakeholders to turn high-level problems into deliverable solutions
- Mentor engineers, review designs and code, and remain actively involved in development
- Assess where AI adds genuine value and challenge its use where a conventional solution would be better
About you:
You'll be an experienced technical lead or senior backend engineer with genuine experience delivering AI functionality into production. The established product environment is primarily C#/.NET and Microsoft Azure, so experience with this stack would be valuable. However, applications are also welcome from strong backend engineers working with Python, Java, Go or Node.js who understand distributed systems, production AI architecture and can work effectively across technologies. You'll combine hands-on engineering depth with the ability to lead others, make architectural decisions and communicate technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders. Experience with Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, RAG, agentic workflows, Semantic Kernel or Microsoft Agent Framework, vector databases, evaluation frameworks and responsible AI controls would be particularly useful.
Salary and benefits:
- Up to £80,000 plus bonus
- Mostly remote, with occasional visits to the Bristol office
- The opportunity to build and lead a new AI engineering capability
- Genuine influence over architecture, recruitment and the AI roadmap
- A hands-on leadership role with real product ownership
- Perkbox, Cycle-to-Work scheme and 24/7 employee support
- Sabbatical option after two years
If you want to lead a team building AI that reaches real customers and have a genuine say in how that capability is created, we'd like to hear from you.
AI Technical Lead in Bristol employer: F5 Careers
Join a forward-thinking software business at the forefront of AI transformation, where your contributions will directly shape innovative products used by real customers. Enjoy a flexible work environment with mostly remote options, competitive salary, and unique benefits like a Cycle-to-Work scheme and sabbatical opportunities, all while being part of a supportive R&D team backed by a large international technology group. This is not just a job; it's a chance to make a meaningful impact in the AI landscape from day one.
