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- Tasks: Lead the development of cutting-edge AI systems and mentor a dynamic engineering team.
- Company: Exciting AI startup with a remote-first culture and strong backing.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, Apple devices, meaningful share options, and career growth.
- Why this job: Join a pioneering team and make a real impact in the AI landscape.
- Qualifications: 5+ years in production engineering and experience with AI architecture.
- Other info: Remote work with occasional London HQ visits for team collaboration.
The predicted salary is between 108000 - 180000 £ per year.
TalentCo are delighted to be working with an AI startup looking to hire a high-calibre Lead AI Engineer into their growing engineering team in the UK, having recently closed a significant seed funding round. This is a senior individual contributor hire and can be based remote-first anywhere in the UK, for this London HQ'd startup.
You will drive the technical evolution of the clients AI-first platform and serve as their resident AI expert. You will be a core software engineer architecting the complex systems that make AI useful in production, splitting your time between crafting complex AI processing architectures and hands-on data/backend engineering, with the rest spent doing whatever is needed to ship.
As Lead AI Engineer you will:
- Architect & Engineer AI Systems: You won’t just call an API; you will build robust processing architectures that leverage off-the-shelf LLMs, RAG pipelines, and context engineering to solve hard problems. You will benchmark these systems rigorously to ensure they actually work, not just "feel" smart.
- Build the Backend Foundation: You will spend significant time in Python (FastAPI, SQLAlchemy) building the APIs, data structures, and services that power the product. You are an engineer who ensures the "AI" is delivered on reliable, production-grade rails.
- Close the Data Loop: As we launch, you will lead the transition from "zero-shot" implementations to data-driven optimisation. You will instrument data collection, design online evaluation metrics, and deploy simple, effective ML models (e.g., logistic regression, boosted trees) to optimise user outcomes based on real feedback.
- Mentor & Lead: You will work alongside full-stack engineers, upskilling the team on AI concepts and best practices. You are the "from-the-trenches" expert who helps the team distinguish between Twitter hype and engineering reality.
- Strategically Advise: You will help Product and Leadership navigate the map of what’s valuable and what’s possible, steering the roadmap toward features that achieve business impact through data-driven optimisation.
We want to hear from you if you bring:
- Production Engineering (5+ years): You are a strong software engineer first. You have extensive experience building and maintaining backend services in Python (ideally FastAPI or similar async frameworks) deployed to modern cloud providers (GCP/AWS) or point solutions (Railway, Render, Vercel).
- Applied AI Architecture: You have built complex applications using Foundation Models / LLMs. You understand context window management, prompting strategies, and how to chain models together to achieve reliable results.
- Team-Oriented Mindset: Strong communication skills for explaining complex ideas to technical and non-technical audiences, and a passion for collaborating within cross-functional teams.
- Passion and Pride in Shipping: A do-whatever-it-takes attitude to deliver against important business goals that help the entire team win.
- Pragmatic Best Practices: An overarching desire to build efficient, scalable, and maintainable code, while managing the tradeoffs between technical debt and delivery speed. You’d rather ship a heuristic that solves the user's problem today than a perfect model two weeks late.
What do they offer?
- Base salary c£150k
- Remote-first with occasional trips to the London HQ to see the team
- Apple devices and the best AI tooling
- Meaningful early-stage share opportunities
- Career rocket fuel - real growth, real ownership, real impact
Lead AI Engineer in Leigh employer: TalentCo
Contact Detail:
TalentCo Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead AI Engineer in Leigh
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in the AI space on LinkedIn or at meetups. We all know that sometimes it’s not just what you know, but who you know that can get you in the door.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio showcasing your AI projects and contributions. We want to see your hands-on experience with Python and AI architectures, so make it easy for potential employers to see what you can do.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for those interviews! Brush up on your technical knowledge and be ready to discuss your past projects in detail. We recommend practicing common AI engineering questions and scenarios to show you’re the right fit for the role.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take the initiative to connect directly with us.
We think you need these skills to ace Lead AI Engineer in Leigh
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV reflects the skills and experiences that align with the Lead AI Engineer role. Highlight your production engineering experience, especially in Python and AI architecture, to show us you’re the right fit.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Use your cover letter to tell us why you're passionate about AI and how your background makes you the perfect candidate. Share specific examples of projects where you've built complex systems or mentored others in AI concepts.
Showcase Your Projects: If you’ve worked on relevant projects, don’t hesitate to include links or descriptions in your application. We love seeing real-world applications of your skills, especially those involving LLMs and backend services.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website for a smoother process. It helps us keep track of your application and ensures you get the attention you deserve!
How to prepare for a job interview at TalentCo
✨Know Your AI Stuff
Make sure you brush up on your knowledge of AI architectures and the specific technologies mentioned in the job description, like LLMs and RAG pipelines. Be ready to discuss how you've applied these in real-world scenarios, as this will show you're not just familiar with the theory but can also implement it effectively.
✨Showcase Your Engineering Skills
Prepare to talk about your experience with backend services, especially in Python and frameworks like FastAPI. Have examples ready that demonstrate your ability to build robust APIs and data structures, as well as how you've ensured production-grade reliability in your previous projects.
✨Be a Team Player
Since this role involves mentoring and collaborating with others, think of instances where you've successfully communicated complex ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences. Highlight your teamwork experiences and how you've contributed to a positive team dynamic.
✨Demonstrate Your Pragmatic Approach
Prepare to discuss how you balance technical debt with delivery speed. Share examples of when you've opted for a practical solution over a perfect one, and how that decision positively impacted user outcomes or project timelines. This will show that you understand the importance of shipping efficiently while maintaining quality.
