Staff/Senior AI Engineer, AI for Code in London

Staff/Senior AI Engineer, AI for Code in London

London Full-Time 70000 - 90000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
JetBrains

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Build cutting-edge AI coding agents and workflows for real developer tasks.
  • Company: Join JetBrains, a leader in developer tools used by millions.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work, extra time off, and mental health support.
  • Other info: Inclusive workplace with great career growth and learning opportunities.
  • Why this job: Shape the future of AI in software development with hands-on challenges.
  • Qualifications: Strong software engineering skills and experience with AI systems.

The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.

At JetBrains, we build developer tools used by millions of engineers. The AI for Code team works on the next generation of coding agents and agentic workflows: systems that can understand codebases, plan and execute multi-step tasks, collaborate with developers, and ship reliable results inside real development environments. We are looking for a Staff/Senior AI Engineer to join the team and support these efforts. This role is for someone who can take our internal coding models, such as Mellum2, as well as open-weight models, and turn them into production-ready coding agents for our users. You’ll work on model training and fine-tuning, context engineering, tool use, evaluation, feedback loops, and product integration. This is not research in isolation – you’ll build systems that are used by tens of thousands of developers.

What You’ll Do

  • Build production-ready coding agents and agentic workflows for real developer tasks inside JetBrains products.
  • Turn promising model capabilities into dependable product behaviour through prompt design, context construction, fine-tuning, instruction-tuning, or other post-training techniques where appropriate.
  • Design and improve the agent loop itself, including tool use, execution strategy, safeguards, and task completion quality.
  • Create evaluation suites and quality infrastructure for agent behaviour, including online and offline evaluations, regression checks, failure analysis, and release criteria.
  • Build feedback loops from real usage, using logs, user signals, and edge cases to improve data, evaluations, and agent behaviour.
  • Work with both hosted frontier APIs and self-hosted or open-weight models, making pragmatic decisions about where each model belongs based on capability, latency, reliability, privacy, and cost.
  • Collaborate closely with product managers, software engineers, ML engineers, and researchers to ship features end to end.
  • Help define the technical direction for future work, especially in ambiguous areas where we need strong judgment rather than a prewritten playbook.

What We’re Looking For

  • Strong software engineering fundamentals and a track record of shipping complex systems to production.
  • Hands-on experience building LLM-powered products, coding agents, or other AI systems.
  • Experience improving model behaviour through systematic iteration, whether via prompting, context engineering, fine-tuning, preference optimization, or broader post-training methods.
  • Practical experience with evaluation and benchmarking for LLM systems, including defining task-grounded success metrics and catching regressions.
  • Experience working from noisy real-world signals rather than only from clean benchmark datasets.
  • Good judgment about trade-offs between model quality, latency, reliability, privacy, and cost.
  • Confidence working with ambiguity and taking ownership of a direction over multiple iterations.
  • Strong communication skills and the ability to align engineering and product decisions.

What Success Looks Like In The First Year

  • You ship one or more agent capabilities that users can rely on for meaningful work, not just demos.
  • You establish better evaluation coverage and clearer release criteria for agent behaviour.
  • You help the team build a repeatable loop from idea to shipped capability: prototype, evaluate, learn from usage, improve, and scale.

Why join us?

  • You’ll help define what practical, trustworthy AI for software development looks like in real products.
  • You’ll work on challenging problems at the boundary of model capability and product reality, with the freedom to stay hands-on and the scope to influence how the next generation of JetBrains AI systems is built.

And

  • Strong base salary. We offer competitive pay that reflects your skills and experience.
  • Flexible work location. Enjoy the freedom to work from home or from the office.
  • Remote work. Spend up to 30 days per year working remotely from abroad.
  • Extra time off. More days to relax, recharge, and do the things you love.
  • Medical insurance allowance. Enjoy peace of mind for you and your family.
  • Learning and development opportunities. Access to conferences, courses, and language classes.
  • Relocation support. We help make your move as smooth and stress-free as possible.
  • Language classes. Pick up the local language or sharpen your English skills.
  • Fuel your day. Enjoy a hot meal or receive a lunch allowance on workdays.
  • Mental health support. To help you feel your best, we provide easy access to professional mental health services.
  • Sports benefit. Enjoy an on-site gym or sports club stipend.
  • Internal events. Join company-wide celebrations and team gatherings.
  • Some benefits may vary depending on location.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We know great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. That’s why we do our best to create an open and inclusive workplace – one that welcomes everyone regardless of their background, identity, religion, age, accessibility needs, or orientation.

We process the data provided in your job application in accordance with the Recruitment Privacy Policy.

Staff/Senior AI Engineer, AI for Code in London employer: JetBrains

At JetBrains, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration. As a Staff/Senior AI Engineer, you'll have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI technologies while enjoying flexible work arrangements, competitive salaries, and comprehensive benefits including medical insurance, learning opportunities, and mental health support. Join us in shaping the future of software development with a team that values your contributions and encourages personal growth.

JetBrains

Contact Details:

JetBrains Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Staff/Senior AI Engineer, AI for Code in London

Tip Number 1

Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in the industry, especially those at JetBrains or similar companies. A friendly chat can open doors and give you insights that a job description just can't.

Tip Number 2

Show off your skills! Create a portfolio showcasing your projects, especially those involving AI and coding agents. This is your chance to demonstrate what you can do beyond just words on a CV.

Tip Number 3

Prepare for interviews by practising common questions related to AI engineering. Think about how you’d tackle real-world problems and be ready to discuss your thought process. We want to see your problem-solving skills in action!

Tip Number 4

Apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at JetBrains. Don’t miss out!

We think you need these skills to ace Staff/Senior AI Engineer, AI for Code in London

Software Engineering Fundamentals
LLM-powered Product Development
Model Training and Fine-tuning
Context Engineering
Evaluation and Benchmarking
Task-grounded Success Metrics
Feedback Loop Creation

Some tips for your application 🫡

Tailor Your Application:Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter for the Staff/Senior AI Engineer role. Highlight your experience with coding agents and AI systems, and show us how your skills align with what we're looking for.

Showcase Your Projects:Include specific examples of projects you've worked on that demonstrate your ability to build production-ready systems. We want to see your hands-on experience with LLM-powered products and how you've tackled real-world challenges.

Be Clear and Concise:When writing your application, keep it straightforward. Use clear language to explain your achievements and technical skills. We appreciate a well-structured application that gets straight to the point!

Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to submit your application through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it’s super easy!

How to prepare for a job interview at JetBrains

Know Your Models

Familiarise yourself with the internal coding models like Mellum2 and any open-weight models. Be ready to discuss how you would turn these into production-ready coding agents, showcasing your understanding of model training and fine-tuning.

Showcase Your Engineering Skills

Prepare examples from your past experiences where you've shipped complex systems to production. Highlight your hands-on experience with LLM-powered products and how you've improved model behaviour through systematic iteration.

Understand Evaluation Metrics

Be prepared to talk about how you define task-grounded success metrics and your experience with evaluation and benchmarking for LLM systems. Discuss any practical experiences you've had with real-world signals and how you caught regressions.

Communicate Effectively

Strong communication skills are key! Practice articulating your thoughts on trade-offs between model quality, latency, reliability, privacy, and cost. Show that you can align engineering and product decisions while working collaboratively with teams.