At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead AI projects, design production-grade systems, and mentor engineers.
- Company: Join a high-growth AI consultancy at the forefront of innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, equity options, generous holiday, and learning budget.
- Other info: Hybrid role with excellent career progression and dynamic work environment.
- Why this job: Make a real-world impact with cutting-edge AI technologies.
- Qualifications: Experience in Python, machine learning, and leading technical teams.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.
Gravitas is proud to be partnering with a high-growth AI and technology consultancy as they continue to expand their industry-leading Applied AI and MLOps practice.
This is an opportunity to join a business at the forefront of AI innovation, helping organisations across multiple sectors transform ambitious AI concepts into secure, scalable, production-grade solutions.
From venture-backed startups to enterprise organisations and public sector clients, you'll work on projects that deliver real-world impact while staying close to the latest advancements in AI, machine learning and cloud technologies.
We're looking for an experienced technical leader who enjoys combining hands-on engineering with customer engagement, project ownership and team leadership.
The Opportunity
As a Lead Applied AI Engineer, you'll take ownership of the technical delivery of client projects while remaining deeply involved in the engineering process.
You'll lead multidisciplinary teams through the entire delivery lifecycle, from discovery and prototyping to deployment and optimisation.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a consulting environment, enjoys solving complex customer challenges, and is passionate about taking AI systems from experimentation to production.
You'll have the opportunity to
- Own technical delivery across client engagements
- Design and build production-grade AI and machine learning systems
- Work directly with customers to define solutions and shape strategy
- Mentor and develop engineers within delivery teams
- Contribute to pre-sales activities, proposals and solution design
- Influence technical direction and engineering best practice across the organisation
Projects typically include
- LLM-powered applications
- Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems
- AI agents and autonomous workflows
- Model serving and inference platforms
- Evaluation and observability frameworks
- Cloud-native AI infrastructure
- MLOps platforms and deployment automation
You'll be expected to make pragmatic technical decisions that balance innovation, delivery speed, security, maintainability and commercial objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the successful delivery of Applied AI and Machine Learning projects
- Remain hands-on with software development while providing technical leadership
- Guide architecture, engineering standards and technical decision-making
- Work closely with clients to understand business needs and define solutions
- Lead sprint planning, technical reviews and agile delivery processes
- Mentor engineers and support their professional development
- Manage technical risks and ensure high-quality project outcomes
- Contribute to hiring, interviewing and team growth
- Support business development through technical proposals and solution design
- Stay ahead of emerging trends across AI, ML, MLOps and cloud technologies
What We're Looking For
- Strong experience developing and deploying production-grade Python applications
- Experience building and delivering machine learning or generative AI solutions
- Commercial experience with technologies such as: LLMs, RAG architectures, Embeddings, Prompt engineering, Model evaluation, AI agents, ML workflows and model serving
- Experience designing cloud-native systems on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud
- Strong Dev Ops and Infrastructure-as-Code knowledge
- Proven experience leading technical delivery across teams, projects or workstreams
- Experience mentoring or managing engineers
- Knowledge of: Git, Linux/Unix, Docker, Open-source AI, ML and MLOps tooling
- Excellent stakeholder and client-facing communication skills
Applications are welcomed from individuals with backgrounds in
- Software Engineering
- Machine Learning Engineering
- Data Science
You don't need to already hold an "Applied AI" title. Strong engineering foundations, leadership experience and a passion for AI innovation are the most important factors.
- What's On Offer
- Salary of £80,000 - £100,000 depending on experience
- Equity options scheme
- 25 days holiday, increasing with service up to 30 days
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- £500 annual learning and development budget
- AI assistant subscription of your choice
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Volunteer and charity days
- Regular company socials and events
- Structured career progression within a rapidly growing business
This is a hybrid role based in Manchester, with employees expected onsite three days per week (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday).
Occasional travel to customer sites throughout the UK may be required depending on project needs.
Due to the nature of some client engagements, successful candidates will need to be eligible for UK Security Clearance (SC level).
As a result, applicants must typically have lived in the UK continuously for at least five years.
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Lead Applied AI Engineer in Manchester employer: Gravitas Recruitment Group (Global) Ltd
Join a forward-thinking organisation in Reading that is committed to digital transformation and innovation. As the Head of Cloud Infrastructure, you will benefit from a hybrid working model, a culture that values meaningful change, and ample opportunities for professional growth within a supportive team environment. With a focus on modernisation and a strong commitment to employee development, this role offers a unique chance to shape the future of cloud infrastructure while enjoying the stability of a well-established company.
Contact Details:
Gravitas Recruitment Group (Global) Ltd Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead Applied AI Engineer in Manchester
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We think you need these skills to ace Lead Applied AI Engineer in Manchester
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Gravitas Recruitment Group (Global) Ltd.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Gravitas Recruitment Group (Global) Ltd and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Gravitas Recruitment Group (Global) Ltd
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Gravitas Recruitment Group (Global) Ltd uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
