Principal AI Engineer, Edinburgh

Multiverse is the upskilling platform for AI and Tech adoption. We have partnered with 1,500+ companies to deliver a new kind of learning that's transforming today's workforce. Our upskilling apprenticeships are designed for people of any age and career stage to build critical AI, data, and tech skills. Our learners have driven $2bn+ ROI for their employers, using the skills they've learned to improve productivity and measurable performance.

The Opportunity: Multiverse is the UK’s largest apprenticeship provider and its first EdTech unicorn. The current state of AI presents a huge opportunity to reshape the future of education and workforce development - and Multiverse is in a uniquely strong position to do that. The Scotland hub exists to make that real. A new engineering team with the mandate to build AI-native products, help modernise the existing platform, and set the practices that make Multiverse an AI-first company.

As Principal AI Engineer, this is a deeply technical role. You'll be the person other engineers turn to when the hard problems land - the one who navigates architectural ambiguity, makes high-stakes design decisions, and holds the bar on engineering quality across everything we build with AI. You ship code alongside the team; this is a hands-on building role, not an advisory position.

What You'll Do:

• Own the AI agent architecture. Design the orchestration layer, memory and context management, evaluation framework, and integration APIs that all agent products build on.
• Ship production agents. You write and review code and own what goes to production. You'll personally deliver at least one major agent system in your first six months.
• Set the engineering standard. Define how Multiverse builds with AI - evaluation methodology, multi-agent coordination patterns, tool design, guardrails, and observability.
• Build the integration layer. Create the APIs, MCPs, and shared data contracts that connect agents to Multiverse’s platform, content systems, and internal tools.
• Drive technical strategy. Translate product and business goals into a coherent AI engineering roadmap.
• Raise the bar around you. You’re not a line manager, but your presence makes the engineers you work with measurably better.

What We're Looking For:

• Production AI Agent Engineering: You've shipped multi-agent systems to real users.
• Technical Strategy and Influence at Scale: You've set technical direction across multiple teams.
• Full-Stack Delivery: You work across the stack - LLM integration, backend services, data pipelines, and enough frontend to ship end-to-end.
• Product Instinct: You identify which problems are worth solving, in what order, and why.

What Would Set You Apart:

• Background as a founding engineer or technical co-founder.
• Experience in EdTech, regulated content, or domains where AI output quality has compliance implications.
• Published thinking or external contributions in AI engineering.
• Practical experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or equivalent agent integration standards.

Benefits:

• Time off - 27 days holiday, plus 5 additional days off.
• Health & Wellness - private medical Insurance with Bupa, a medical cashback scheme, life insurance, gym membership & wellness resources.
• Hybrid work offering - for most roles we collaborate in the office three days per week.
• Work-from-anywhere scheme - you'll have the opportunity to work from anywhere, up to 10 days per year.
• Space to connect: Beyond the desk, we make time for weekly catch-ups, seasonal celebrations, and have a kitchen that’s always stocked!

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: We're an equal opportunities employer. Every applicant and employee is afforded the same opportunities regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status.

Our Commitment to Safeguarding: Multiverse is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our learners. We expect all employees to share this commitment and adhere to our Safeguarding Policy.