Staff AI Engineer in London

Staff AI Engineer in London

London Full-Time 75600 - 92400 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
United States Digital Space LLC

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Build cutting-edge AI tools to enhance developer experience and drive innovation.
  • Company: Join a fast-growing fintech unicorn with a collaborative culture.
  • Benefits: Flexible working, health coverage, and a fully stocked kitchen.
  • Other info: Be part of a winning team at the forefront of AI development.
  • Why this job: Make an immediate impact by shaping AI technology in a dynamic environment.
  • Qualifications: 6+ years in software engineering with strong AI and full-stack skills.

The predicted salary is between 75600 - 92400 £ per year.

About Lendable

Lendable is on a mission to build the world's best technology to help people get credit and save money. We're building one of the world’s leading fintech companies and are off to a strong start:

  • One of the UK’s newest unicorns with a team of just over 700 people
  • Among the fastest-growing tech companies in the UK
  • Profitable since 2017
  • Backed by top investors including Balderton Capital and Goldman Sachs
  • Loved by customers with the best reviews in the market (4.9 across 10,000s of reviews on Trustpilot)

So far, we’ve rebuilt the Big Three consumer finance products from scratch: loans, credit cards and car finance. We get money into our customers’ hands in minutes instead of days. We’re growing fast, and there’s a lot more to do: we’re going after the two biggest Western markets (UK and US) where trillions worth of financial products are held by big banks with dated systems and painful processes.

Join us if you want to:

  • Take ownership across a broad remit. You are trusted to make decisions that drive a material impact on the direction and success of the company from day 1
  • Work in small teams of exceptional people, who are relentlessly resourceful to solve problems and find smarter solutions than the status quo
  • Build the best technology in-house, using new data sources, machine learning and AI to make machines do the heavy lifting

We're looking for an influential Staff AI Engineer to join our small AI Engineering team at the company to help us enable developers to move faster whilst keeping quality high. Our mission is to bring all the lessons we have learned about AI development so far into one system so everyone can benefit. The system combines our Coding Agent, for measuring effectiveness of AI and the stability of our systems.

This is a role where you'll be working with our engineers and product managers who build our products. You will improve the developer experience and improve our throughput. You’ll see instant impact with your work and participate in a highly collaborative environment.

We need someone who takes full ownership - not just writing code, but thinking through the problem, designing the solution, shipping it, and making sure it keeps working. You'll own your work from 'what should we build?' through to 'is it still delivering value?'

You'll also be working at the frontier of AI tooling - building with LLMs, experimenting with new approaches, and figuring out what's possible.

What you'll be doing:

  • Build on top of our AI cloud coding agent
  • Build the core of our AI harness
  • Enable capabilities in these agents for specification, testing, and service reliability
  • Work with security and data governance requirements to ensure the agents are secure and have access to the appropriate data
  • Enable others to build with AI
  • Encourage teams to level up their AI Software development processes
  • Enable teams to build AI actors that plug into the SDLC
  • Help teams measure the impact AI is having on the development process
  • Transplant good ideas and processes from one team to other teams in the organization

What we're looking for:

Essential:

  • 6+ years of software engineering experience in a mid-to-large-size organisation
  • Experience of building AI tooling to improve developer experience (devex)
  • The ability to influence how people work across multiple teams
  • Proven experience building AI tooling used by others in a commercial environment
  • Strong full-stack skills in TypeScript
  • Frontend skills with Next.js or React to build an interface for engineers
  • Strong AI knowledge — LLMs, embeddings, MCPs, RAG, evals, agentic platforms
  • Experience of building infrastructure to support your systems in production using IaC, k8s or lambda functions
  • Self-starter who takes ownership end-to-end — from understanding the problem, through design and implementation, to monitoring and iteration
  • Motivated by impact — you want to see your work used and know it's making a difference

Nice to have:

  • Experience with Cloudflare infrastructure
  • Experience with monitoring tools such as Datadog, Sentry, Grafana
  • Experience with creating guardrails for products: SLOs, DORA metrics

How you'll work:

You’ll be part of a small core team that works with engineering representatives from across the company. We have a vision of how we can accelerate the engineering process with AI, and you’ll be working with this group to complete the plan. We will also experiment and adapt the plan as new AI tooling and approaches emerge.

We value shipping and learning over perfection. The goal is always to deliver something useful, learn from how it's used, and improve. You won't be directly client-facing, but your work will directly impact colleagues across the business — and you'll hear about it when something you built makes their day easier.

Why join?

See your work make a difference. This isn't a team where your code disappears into a monolith. You'll build something, ship it and get instant feedback from developers. Every integration and tool you ship has a direct line to engineering efficiency.

High leverage: A small core team means your contributions have outsized impact. No layers, fast decisions, real ownership.

Build new things: We're building a platform from the ground up, not maintaining legacy systems. You'll shape how AI gets used across the company.

Work at the frontier: AI tooling is moving fast. You'll work with the latest in agentic AI, workflow orchestration and LLM tooling — applied to real problems, not just proof-of-concepts.

Interview process:

  • Screening call with Hiring Manager
  • Take-home task
  • Technical interview based on the task
  • Interview with Engineering Manager
  • Final interview with Hiring Manager

Life at the company:

  • Winning team: the opportunity to scale up one of the world’s most successful fintech companies
  • Flexible working: flexible approach tailored to each role. Hybrid roles require three days in-office weekly; fully remote roles include regular opportunities for in-person connection through socials and off-sites
  • Socials & connection: opportunities and events to come together, socialise, and get to know each other beyond the office walls
  • Health coverage: support for your physical and mental wellbeing, including private health cover
  • Retirement & savings: long-term financial wellbeing through retirement savings plans
  • Employee referral programme: earn a competitive bonus when you refer successful new team members
  • Office meals & snacks: enjoy a fully stocked kitchen, plus complimentary lunches prepared by in-house chefs on in-office days at select locations
  • Sustainable commuting: cycle-to-work and electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes available in select locations

Please note: The availability and details of specific benefits vary by location and role. For more information, please speak to your Talent Partner.

Staff AI Engineer in London employer: United States Digital Space LLC

United States Digital Space LLC is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that prioritises innovation and collaboration in the heart of Greater London. With a strong focus on employee well-being and flexible work options, we provide ample opportunities for professional growth and development, making it an ideal environment for those looking to make a meaningful impact in the field of AI-enabled SaaS engineering.

United States Digital Space LLC

Contact Details:

United States Digital Space LLC Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Staff AI Engineer in London

Join Local Tech Meetups

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Contribute to Open Source Projects

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Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

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We think you need these skills to ace Staff AI Engineer in London

Software Engineering
AI Tooling Development
Full-Stack Development
TypeScript
Next.js
React
Large Language Models (LLMs)

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at United States Digital Space LLC.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at United States Digital Space LLC and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at United States Digital Space LLC

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If United States Digital Space LLC uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.