Head of Engineering - AI Platform, Financial Services | Central London | Β£100,000-140,000
A growing technology business serving financial services firms is building a platform that helps investment professionals use AI reliably in their day-to-day work. The company has strong backing and an established client base across the sector. They're hiring a Head of Engineering to take ownership of the platform's architecture and build out a UK engineering function.
The role: A senior, first-of-its-kind engineering hire in the UK, working alongside an existing engineering team based overseas and building out a UK team across ML, front/back end, cloud and security. Full ownership of architecture, engineering standards, and security posture.
Tech required:
Core stack: JVM and Python - comfortable across both, not screened on a specific framework
Architecture: service boundary design based on data ownership; separation between core transactional systems and AI/ML components; multi-tenant design for a platform holding sensitive financial data
AI/ML engineering: agentic workflows, retrieval quality (RAG and graph-backed retrieval), structured evaluation of AI outputs before release
AI tooling (good to have): LangGraph, MCP, schema-first contract governance
Infrastructure: AWS at scale, Kubernetes, infrastructure as code
Engineering discipline: CI/CD, automated testing, static analysis, code review, release discipline
Security: platform security architecture, compliance readiness for industry-standard certifications, enterprise client security reviews, experience with regulated-buyer diligence
Candidate profile:
Has owned architecture for a multi-tenant enterprise platform
5+ years leading engineering teams, including across multiple locations
Experience building production LLM or agentic AI systems
Track record of raising engineering standards and driving adoption
Background in financial services or another regulated industry a plus.
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Head of Engineering in London employer: Oscar Associates Limited
Join a dynamic and innovative team as an IP Services Engineer, where you will thrive in a collaborative work culture that values technical expertise and problem-solving skills. Our company offers competitive benefits, including professional development opportunities and a commitment to employee growth, all within a large enterprise technology environment that prioritises service reliability and performance. Located in a vibrant area, we provide a stimulating workplace that encourages creativity and teamwork, making it an excellent choice for those seeking meaningful and rewarding employment.