Principal Data Scientist in Manchester

Manchester (Hybrid – typically 3 days, flexibility available) £75,000 – £100,000 + Equity (EMI)

Why This Role Stands Out:

This isn’t a team bolting AI onto an existing product. This is a business built around it. You’ll be joining early in the journey of a genuinely AI-first company tackling complex, messy, real world data problems that don’t have obvious off the shelf solutions. The work here goes much deeper than surface level “AI features”, it’s about building systems that actually think, adapt, and deliver measurable value. The team is small, highly capable, and moves quickly. There’s no bureaucracy, no waiting weeks for decisions, and no disconnect between ideas and implementation. If something makes sense, it gets built.

The Opportunity:

This is a pivotal hire, someone who can elevate the technical bar, shape how AI is applied across the business, and take real ownership of outcomes. You won’t just be executing tickets. You’ll be:

• Defining how ML and LLMs are used in production
• Challenging assumptions and improving existing approaches
• Influencing product direction through technical insight
• Helping build the foundations of a world class AI capability

If you enjoy operating with autonomy, solving ambiguous problems, and seeing your work directly impact users, this role is built for that.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Designing, building, and deploying ML models (with a strong NLP focus) into production
• Working hands on with LLMs, including emerging agentic / workflow driven approaches
• Turning large volumes of unstructured data into structured, usable intelligence
• Building scalable data pipelines and production grade systems
• Improving model performance, efficiency, and cost (including LLM optimisation)
• Contributing to system architecture and high level design decisions
• Mentoring and lifting the capability of more junior team members
• Owning problems end to end, from idea through to production impact

What We’re Looking For:

Technical

• Strong Machine Learning background (ideally with deep NLP experience)
• Proven, hands-on experience with LLMs in a commercial environment
• Exposure to agentic AI / autonomous workflows (or strong interest in this space)
• Strong Python skills and experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow
• Ability to build production systems, not just prototypes
• Solid data engineering capability (pipelines, processing, transformation)
• Experience working with cloud platforms (AWS or GCP)
• Confident working with SQL and large datasets

Experience & Mindset

• Someone who raises the bar, not just fits into it
• Likely from a startup, scale up, or fast moving environment
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability for outcomes
• Comfortable challenging decisions and proposing better solutions
• Able to operate across the stack when needed, models, data, systems
• Clear communicator who can explain complex ideas without friction

What You’ll Get

• A genuine chance to shape how AI is used from the ground up
• Work on meaningful, real world ML problems (not just experiments)
• Equity with real upside, not a token add on
• Influence over both technical direction and product thinking
• A collaborative, low ego team focused on building, not posturing

Location

Manchester City Centre (hybrid) Typically 3 days onsite, but flexible for the right person

If you’re looking for a role where you can build, influence, and see your work matter quickly, this is one of those rare opportunities where that’s genuinely true.