At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a team to deploy cutting-edge AI systems for top-tier clients.
- Company: Join Indicium AI, a leader in AI engineering and innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, career growth, and access to the latest AI tools.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with opportunities to influence major projects and client strategies.
- Why this job: Shape the future of AI while working with industry leaders and innovative technologies.
- Qualifications: 8+ years in tech roles, with leadership experience in AI or engineering.
The predicted salary is between 120000 - 180000 £ per year.
London
About Indicium AI
Indicium AI was Anthropic’s first European launch partner - and sits among a handful of organisations globally trusted by Anthropic to deploy Claude at enterprise scale. We are also one of the first four OpenAI partners in the UK, and Databricks Ventures has invested in our business and holds a seat on our board. Our engineers have access to the latest AI tools and models, partner technical teams, and early capability previews that the wider market does not. We are deploying production AI systems into the world's most complex organisations across Financial Services, Energy, and Healthcare. We exist to make AI a genuine competitive advantage for our clients, not in a presentation but in production.
The Role
This is a technical leadership role at the centre of our Forward Deployed AI Engineering practice. Reporting to the CTO, you will lead a team of Forward Deployed AI Engineers who embed directly with our most strategic clients to ship production AI systems that solve real business problems. You will own how we show up in the market - from the quality of individual engagements to the patterns and playbooks that let the practice scale. This means managing hands-on technical delivery in enterprise, shaping architecture on complex engagements, developing vertical fluency across the team, and partnering with Sales to shape the pipeline. It is a player-coach role: your primary impact will come from the people you hire, the standards you set, and the culture you create - but you will stay close enough to the work to review architectures, unblock production issues, and pair with your team when it matters. You will work directly with clients at the most senior level, with Anthropic teams, and with Indicium AI leadership to define the direction of our AI engineering practice. The best FDE leaders we have seen do not just run a team - they define what good looks like, and they build the organisation that delivers it consistently.
What You Will Do
- Lead, hire, and develop a high-performing team of Forward Deployed AI Engineers – setting a high bar for technical talent, client instincts, and delivery quality
- Own the technical and operational bar for AI engineering engagements – reviewing SOWs, shaping architecture on complex deployments, and ensuring your team ships production-grade systems
- Build the playbooks and repeatable patterns that turn one-off successes into scalable, long-term customer engagements
- Manage hands-on technical delivery in enterprise – you are comfortable moving fluidly between strategic conversations with C-suite stakeholders and debugging sessions with your engineers
- Develop vertical fluency across the team in Financial Services, Energy, and Healthcare – ensuring credibility with domain-expert clients
- Partner with Sales to shape pipeline, scope engagements, and identify expansion opportunities within existing accounts
- Work alongside Anthropic field teams on joint engagements – representing Indicium AI at the highest level and influencing partner product direction through field insights
- Provide technical mentorship, conduct regular 1:1s, and invest in the career growth of each team member
- Drive knowledge sharing and raise the bar for the practice through codified patterns, internal training, and a culture of engineering excellence
What We Are Looking For
- 8+ years in technical roles with at least 3 years leading engineering or delivery teams – in forward deployed engineering, technical consulting, applied AI, or solutions architecture
- Production experience building AI applications including agentic systems, multi-agent orchestration, advanced RAG, evaluation frameworks, and deployment at scale in regulated enterprise environments
- A track record of building teams from early stage – hiring, developing, and retaining strong engineers, not just inheriting an existing organisation
- Experience working directly with enterprise clients on technical implementations, including comfort navigating complex organisational dynamics, procurement, compliance, and resistant stakeholders
- Executive presence – you can hold your own in a C-suite conversation and translate technical complexity into clear narratives for diverse audiences
- Strong Python proficiency and genuine comfort with production code – you are a builder at heart
- Vertical depth in at least one of Financial Services, Energy, or Healthcare
- High agency and comfort with ambiguity – you have built something from zero before and know what it takes
Nice to Have
- Former technical founder or CTO – you have built products and teams under commercial pressure and client scrutiny
- Experience with MCP server development, tool ecosystem integration, and enterprise agent deployment patterns
- Experience working alongside or within partner ecosystems such as Anthropic, or AWS at a senior level
- External presence – writing, speaking, or thought leadership in the AI Engineering space
- Experience in a Palantir, Anthropic, DeepMind, or similar forward-deployed engineering model
Director Forward Deployed AI Engineering EMEA employer: Indicium AI
As a People Leader in Europe, you will join a dynamic and inclusive work culture that prioritises employee well-being and professional growth. Our commitment to competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and a supportive environment fosters engagement and retention, making us an exceptional employer in the UK and Portugal. With opportunities to shape our people strategy and collaborate with global leaders, you will play a pivotal role in driving our mission forward while enjoying the unique advantages of working in a fast-growing, international organisation.
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We think this is how you could land Director Forward Deployed AI Engineering EMEA
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We think you need these skills to ace Director Forward Deployed AI Engineering EMEA
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Projects:In the world of data science, your projects can speak volumes about your skills. Make sure to showcase a few key projects in your CV or portfolio, especially those that highlight your ability to work with data sets, build models, or use relevant tools like Python, R, or SQL. Don’t forget to include links to any GitHub repositories if applicable!
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Stand Out with Relevant Courses and Certifications:Although experience talks, relevant courses or certifications can be your ticket to impressing hiring managers at Indicium AI. Mention any standout courses you've completed that equipped you with essential skills, such as machine learning certifications or data visualisation courses. This shows your commitment to continuously developing your skills in the field!
How to prepare for a job interview at Indicium AI
✨Brush Up on Your Statistics
For a data science role, we need to seriously sharpen our statistics skills. Get ready to tackle technical questions on probability distributions, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis. These are often the bread and butter of data science interviews, so don't just skim over them!
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✨Get Comfortable with Python and R
Most data science positions require us to be proficient in programming languages like Python and R. We should practice common libraries like pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn, and be ready for live coding exercises or algorithm questions. Showing off our coding chops can really impress the interviewers at Indicium AI!
✨Prepare for Case Studies
Expect to encounter real-world case studies during the interview. We might be asked how we’d approach a data problem or analyse a dataset to extract insights. It's essential to think out loud and demonstrate our problem-solving process so that the interviewer can see our logical thinking in action.
