Senior AI Engineer in Belfast

AI is already part of daily life at Locate a Locum - teams across the business are experimenting, testing, and finding value. What’s missing is the architect to own it. We are looking for an entrepreneurial, high-impact Senior AI Engineer to become our first dedicated AI specialist and turn fragmented, ad-hoc workflows into a robust, unified AI ecosystem. In this role, you will take full technical ownership: establishing governance and monitoring, professionalising our internal tools, and architecting cutting-edge, production-ready capabilities across both our customer-facing SaaS platform and core operational engines. Working side-by-side with our Head of Engineering, you will turn our current momentum into intelligent features that accelerate growth, boost retention, and systematically eliminate operational friction. If you are looking for a role with high autonomy and the leverage of a company already eager to build with AI, then this role is for you.

What You’ll Do

• SaaS Feature Development: Architect, build and deploy AI applications and interactive features directly into the LAL platform to drive user engagement and customer value.
• Internal Process Optimisation: Identify operational bottlenecks and build high-precision automated pipelines, using appropriate AI and deterministic methodologies.
• AI Systems Architecture & Infrastructure: Design, test and maintain scalable agentic workflows that seamlessly integrate with LAL’s core infrastructure.
• Quality, Guardrails & Evaluation: Establish robust evaluation frameworks, hallucination tracking, prompt engineering standards, and fallback mechanisms to ensure high accuracy and compliance in non-deterministic model outputs.
• Technical Standards & Expansion Foundation: Document technical patterns, prompt structures, and deployment pipelines to establish a foundation that allows internal Developers or future hires to build on top of our AI architecture.

What We’re Looking For

• Technical Skills & Experience:
• Building AI Applications: Hands-on experience building, testing and shipping real-world AI features into live software platforms.
• Search & Knowledge Retrieval: Practical experience connecting AI models to company documents and databases.
• Document Processing & Data Extraction: Proven ability to build automated tools that read unstructured documents and extract accurate information.
• Core Software Engineering: Strong background in standard full-stack development using Java and TypeScript.
• AI Quality, Accuracy & Monitoring: Experience measuring AI accuracy, tracking usage costs, and building safety checks.
• Data Security & Compliance: Basic understanding of data privacy laws (GDPR) and handling sensitive customer data safely.
• Required Competencies:
• Self-Direction & Ownership: Ability to take broad, high-level business problems from shaping to shipped production software without the need for supervision.
• Practical Product Focus: Strong focus on commercial outcomes, balancing technical elegance with user value.
• Smart Problem Solving: Ability to spot technical risks early and keep projects moving forward smoothly.
• Technical Communication & Collaboration: Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Leadership & Mentorship: Willingness to establish clear coding standards and documentation.

Life at Locate A Locum

Company: Locate a Locum (LAL) modernises and streamlines flexible staffing and management across the healthcare sector. We value practical innovation, high-quality delivery, and empowering our engineering teams to solve high-impact, real-world operational problems without standard corporate friction.

Engineering Team Subculture & Ways of Working:

• We consciously avoid bloated backlogs, endless two-week sprint treadmills, and mid-cycle interruptions.
• Our Engineering and Product function operates under a clear, focused methodology designed for momentum and delivery.
• Fixed Time, Variable Scope: We work in focused 6-week release cycles bounded by strict time budgets.
• Up-Front Problem Shaping: Projects are shaped and de-risked out-of-cycle before dev work begins.
• True Team Autonomy: During a cycle, complete trust is placed in small, cross-functional teams/pods.
• Focus on Solved vs. Unsolved: We measure genuine progress by evaluating knowns versus unknowns.
• Continual Check-Ins & Quality First: Regular touchpoints throughout the 6-week cycle allow us to validate direction and resolve risks as they appear.

Benefits & Perks

• Competitive salary with structured annual pay review.
• Performance-related bonus (up to 10% of base salary).
• 35 days holiday (inclusive of public holidays, fully flexible).
• 5% matched pension contribution.
• AXA Private Medical Insurance.
• Healthcare Cash Plan.
• Enhanced Company Sick Pay.
• Enhanced Parental Pay.
• Annual personal L&D allowance for courses, conferences and certifications.
• Quarterly team socials and events.

Application & Interview Process

We want our interview process to be transparent, two-way, and respectful of your time. Here is what to expect:

• Initial Screen: An introductory conversation with our Recruitment Team.
• Deep-Dive Interview: A conversation with our Head of Engineering and Head of People.
• Practical Task & Stakeholder Session: A practical, scenario-based session where you’ll walk through a task relevant to the role.