AI Security Engineering Lead in Bristol

SALARY: £92,701 - £115,000 per annum (outside London) £107,304 - £130,000 per annum (London)

LOCATION: Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, London

HOURS: Full-time - 35 hours

WORKING PATTERN: Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of our time, at one of our office sites. Colleagues with disabilities can be supported with workplace adjustments including hybrid working expectations in line with our Flexibility Works policy.

What you'll be doing: The Chief Security Office (CSO) plays a critical role in safeguarding the Group against an increasingly complex threat landscape while supporting its vision of helping Britain prosper. As AI reshapes both opportunity and risk, we are strengthening our capability to secure the Group's rapidly expanding AI ecosystem. We are looking for an experienced AI Security Engineering Lead to design and deliver the secure engineering patterns, controls, and tooling that protect our AI and machine learning systems. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role, where you will take ownership of complex problem spaces and lead through engineering expertise. You will work directly on code, automation, and platform design, while influencing direction and embedding best practice across AI security engineering in collaboration with senior technical customers and cross‑functional teams. The role is suited to a senior engineer with deep expertise in AI/ML security, modern software engineering, and secure‑by‑design approaches. You will champion secure architectures, embed DevSecOps practices, and help elevate engineering capability as the organisation adopts generative AI, agentic systems, and automation at scale.

Why Join us? If you think all banks are the same, you're wrong. We're a pioneering, fast‑changing business that's shaping finance as a force for good. If you're after a role where you can have an impact and do the best work of your career, you've just found it.

What we're looking for:

• Experience operating as a senior security engineer and leading engineering initiatives in a DevSecOps environment.
• Strong expertise securing AI and ML systems at scale, including model lifecycle security, data pipelines, and secure deployment.
• Strong hands-on experience with machine learning stacks, such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, MLflow, Kubeflow, or equivalent managed platforms (e.g. Vertex AI, Azure ML).
• Solid understanding of cloud native and containerised architectures, including Kubernetes and serverless technologies.
• Experience operating in complex hybrid environments, spanning public cloud, private cloud and on-premise platforms.
• Experience building automation and engineering tooling using Python, Go, or similar languages.
• Certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, or cloud security accreditations are appreciated but not required.

Why This Role Matters: This team is responsible for defending one of the UK's most trusted institutions as it adopts next generation AI capabilities. You'll help shape the Group's AI security posture, designing and deploying the controls that keep our customers, colleagues, and services safe - while enabling bold transformation across the bank.

What You'll Get:

• A senior technical leadership role in one of the UK's largest and most dynamic security organisations.
• Opportunity to shape AI security strategy at national scale.
• An environment that supports experimentation, an engineering‑forward approach, and continuous learning.
• Training, certifications, and learning pathways across AI, Cloud, Security Engineering, and Architecture.

This is a place for you: Our ambition is to be the leading UK business for diversity, equity and inclusion, supporting our customers, colleagues and communities. We are committed to creating an environment in which everyone can thrive, learn and develop. We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and launch a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative. We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. As a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role and have a disability, long‑term health or neurodivergent condition, through the Disability Confident Scheme. We provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to reduce or remove barriers - just let us know what you need.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual bonus award, subject to Group performance
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

Ready for a career where you'll learn and thrive? Apply today and find out more.