Senior AI Developer in Bournemouth

We have an exciting opportunity for a forward‑thinking Senior AI Developer to join our Technology team. You will lead on the design, development, and deployment of AI/ML solutions across our technology platform. A chance to be part of a high performing and dynamic team delivering effective, reliable IT solutions which satisfy customer needs and priorities. This role operates within a Java‑based microservices ecosystem, with opportunities to work with modern AI/ML frameworks, cloud‑native AI services, and cutting‑edge LLM technologies. The position requires strong software engineering fundamentals combined with deep AI/ML expertise. We support hybrid working, with regular presence required in our Bournemouth offices.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement AI/ML solutions that integrate with microservices architecture, ensuring scalability and low‑latency performance.
• Build, train, optimise, and deploy production‑grade machine learning models for business use cases.
• Design, implement, and fine‑tune Large Language Model (LLM) solutions, including secure API integration and prompt engineering.
• Develop contract‑first, composable APIs to expose ML capabilities and support seamless integration.
• Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines for ML models, enabling robust automation and monitoring.
• Build and manage scalable data pipelines and feature stores for ML training, inference, and real‑time streaming data.
• Implement data validation, quality checks, and ensure compliance with data protection regulations (e.g. GDPR).
• Set up comprehensive frameworks for model evaluation, monitoring, drift detection, and A/B testing.
• Build applications leveraging GPT, Claude, and other LLMs, including Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) systems for domain‑specific knowledge.
• Apply secure‑by‑default principles, remediate vulnerabilities, and ensure AI systems meet regulatory and ethical guidelines.
• Ensure secure handling of sensitive data, protect ML models from adversarial attacks and model extraction.
• Implement observability for AI/ML systems, including system metrics, logging, distributed tracing, and alerting for anomalies.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams, document technical work, and communicate progress and issues effectively.
• Identify and implement opportunities for process, tool, and standard improvements within the AI/ML lifecycle.
• Guide, train, and support junior team members, and provide technical leadership and support as required.

About You

• Extensive professional software development and hands‑on ML engineering experience.
• Proven experience deploying ML models to production environments and mentoring junior developers.

Technical Skills

• Expert‑level proficiency in Python for ML development; strong skills in Java (microservices), SQL (data analysis), and JavaScript/TypeScript (full‑stack AI applications).
• Deep knowledge of ML/AI frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, JAX, scikit‑learn, XGBoost, LightGBM, Hugging Face Transformers).
• Experience with LLM frameworks and technologies (LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI/Anthropic APIs, prompt engineering, fine‑tuning, vector databases).
• Skilled in microservices architecture, RESTful API design, containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, and version control (Git).
• Proficient with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and cloud ML services (SageMaker, Vertex AI, Azure ML), including container orchestration (EKS, AKS, GKE).

Data Engineering & MLOps

• Experience with data processing frameworks (Apache Spark, Flink, Kafka), feature stores (Feast, Tecton), and data versioning tools (DVC, Dolt).
• Skilled in building scalable data pipelines, managing data quality, and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations (GDPR).
• Proficient in MLOps tools (MLflow, Kubeflow, Weights & Biases), model serving frameworks, experiment tracking, and model registry management.

Security, Compliance & Observability

• Strong understanding of security vulnerabilities in ML systems, secure coding practices, data encryption, and ethical AI/bias mitigation.
• Experience with security scanning, vulnerability assessment tools, and compliance with regulatory standards (FCA, GDPR).
• Knowledge of observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, New Relic), distributed tracing (Jaeger, Zipkin, OpenTelemetry), and model monitoring tools (Evidently AI, Fiddler).

Desirable

• Previous experience working in the insurance/financial services sector.
• Degree educated in Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field.

Rewards & Benefits

This role is a Band C in the LV= Structure. At LV= Life and Pensions, you’ll go above and beyond to do the right thing for our customers. We’ll reward your hard work with an attractive, competitive salary and benefits package, which includes:

• 30 days' holiday.
• The opportunity to buy or sell up to five days of holiday.
• An annual bonus scheme based on company and personal performance.
• Flexible benefits, including a cycle to work scheme, personal accident insurance, critical illness cover, private medical insurance, and dental insurance.
• Competitive pension scheme – LV= Life and Pensions will double‑match the amount you pay, up to 14% (subject to National Minimum Wage requirements).
• Group Life Assurance of four times your basic pay to your dependents (you’ll have the option to increase this to 8× cover).
• Group Income Protection, if you enrol into the pension scheme and reach 5 years of service.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) service for support when you need it.
• Virtual GP service.
• Shared parental leave.
• Up to 20% discount on our life products for you and your immediate family.

Please note that we are unable to offer Skilled Worker Visa Sponsorship for this role. Therefore, you must ensure that you are eligible to work in the UK without our sponsorship for your application to be considered.

We’re proud of our inclusive culture at LV= and, as an equal‑opportunity employer, we continually work to remove unconscious bias from our recruitment process. We value our colleagues for what they bring to our team regardless of any protected status or characteristics they may have. Talk to us about flexible working as part of your application; if it’s right for you, our members and customers, and our business, then we’ll do everything we can to make it happen.