Lead Software Engineer (Machine Learning) in London

Why Faculty? We established Faculty in 2014 because we thought that AI would be the most important technology of our time. Since then, we've worked with over 350 global customers to transform their performance through human‐centric AI. We don’t chase hype cycles. We innovate, build and deploy responsible AI which moves the needle - and we know a thing or two about doing it well. We bring an unparalleled depth of technical, product and delivery expertise to our clients who span government, finance, retail, energy, life sciences and defence. Our business, and reputation, is growing fast and we’re always on the lookout for individuals who share our intellectual curiosity and desire to build a positive legacy through technology.

AI is an epoch-defining technology, join a company where you’ll be empowered to envision its most powerful applications, and to make them happen.

About the team: Our Energy, Transition and Environment business unit is pioneering meaningful change in the clean energy revolution. Our vision is to accelerate the transition to net‐zero emissions and drive efficiencies for a new era of utility companies. We believe that the responsible, and intelligent, deployment of AI is critical to the success of this mission. We partner with a wide range of clients - from major energy operators, to GreenTech startups, and national infrastructure providers - to build solutions which return measurable impact and move us towards a smarter, cleaner, and more sustainable world.

About the role: Join us as a Lead Software Engineer, with a focus on Machine Learning, to spearhead the technical direction and delivery of complex, innovative AI projects. You will act as a technical expert, applying your skills across various projects from client‐side deployments to advising on AI strategy, while ensuring architectural decisions are sound and reliable. This role demands a balance of deep technical expertise and strong leadership, focusing on driving innovation, fostering team growth, and building reusable solutions across the organisation. If you’re ready to manage high-risk projects and deliver practical, innovative outcomes, this is your chance to shape our future.

What you’ll be doing:

• Setting the technical direction and overseeing delivery of high‐risk, ill‐defined software and infrastructure projects while balancing strategic trade‐offs and helping teams prioritise in shifting environments, taking full ownership of successful outcomes for our most challenging projects.
• Designing and developing reliable, production‐grade ML systems and justifying critical architectural decisions to ensure robust delivery.
• Developing clear, comprehensively scoped roadmaps for novel solutions to help customers achieve their strategic goals and accurately estimating effort on large workstreams to ensure successful and timely delivery.
• Engaging with technical and non‐technical customers at all stages of the customer lifecycle, giving reasoned and credible advice and opinions on a broad range engineering topics.
• Collaborating proactively both within multidisciplinary delivery teams and across the engineering community at Faculty to overcome technical challenges.
• Coaching team members on specific technologies and driving the development of shared organisational resources and libraries to streamline delivery and improve engineering methods across the company.
• Leading the hiring and selection process while mentoring multiple individuals and managers to define the future shape of the engineering team.

Who we’re looking for:

• You are a recognised technical expert who sets the standard for code quality and solution design, possessing the breadth of knowledge to solve almost any problem.
• You have an entrepreneurial mindset and are proactive in recommending new technologies or ways of working to keep our offering ahead of the competition.
• You bring expert‐level experience in at least one major Cloud Solution Provider (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and have led teams to build full‐stack web applications.
• You are a proven leader, capable of managing other managers and setting team‐wide development goals to elevate client delivery.
• You thrive in high‐stakes environments, demonstrating the ability to turn innovative ideas into practical, measurable outcomes for global energy operators.
• You are a compelling communicator who can confidently defend technical rationales to senior stakeholders and guide both technical and non‐technical teams.

The Interview Process:

• Talent Team Screen (30 minutes)
• Introduction to the role (45 minutes)
• Pair Programming Interview (90 minutes)
• System Design Interview (90 minutes)
• Commercial & Leadership Interview (60 minutes)

Our Recruitment Ethos: We aim to grow the best team – not the most similar one. We know that diversity of individuals fosters diversity of thought, and that strengthens our principle of seeking truth. And we know from experience that diverse teams deliver better work, relevant to the world in which we live. We’re united by a deep intellectual curiosity and desire to use our abilities for measurable positive impact. We strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, religions and sexual orientations.

Some of our standout benefits:

• Unlimited Annual Leave Policy
• Private healthcare and dental
• Enhanced parental leave
• Family‐Friendly Flexibility & Flexible working
• Sanctus Coaching
• Hybrid Working (2 days in our Old Street office, London)

If you don’t feel you meet all the requirements, but are excited by the role and know you bring some key strengths, please do apply or reach out to our Talent Acquisition team for a confidential chat – talent@faculty.ai. Please know we are open to conversations about part‐time roles or condensed hours.