Lead Data & AI Engineer in London

Lead Data & AI Engineer in London

London Full-Time 70000 - 90000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead the design and implementation of innovative Data & AI solutions.
  • Company: Join a dynamic ecosystem of over 4,000 passionate professionals.
  • Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, health benefits, and opportunities for remote work.
  • Other info: Be part of a diverse team committed to community and innovation.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact in digital transformation while working with cutting-edge technologies.
  • Qualifications: 6+ years in Data Engineering or AI, with strong leadership skills.

The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.

Imagine working alongside over 4,000 talented individuals driven by a shared passion for excellence and innovation. We’re not just a company; we are a dynamic ecosystem of companies, including VASS, NATEEVO, Serbatic, vdSHOP, T4S, Comunytek, ECENTA, and CRI group. Our collective strength and the E4 Agile Method empower us to assist large enterprises in their digital transformation journey, executing ground-breaking projects from strategy to operation.

At VASS we are not just a business; we are committed to society. In 2019, we established the VASS Foundation to champion research and training in the digital talent space. We proudly allocate 2% of our profits and encourage our entire team to dedicate 1% of their time to impactful solidarity actions. It is not just about growing the bottom line; it’s about growing together, hand in hand with the community we serve.

We are looking for a highly skilled Lead Data & AI Engineer to join our Data & AI practice and lead the technical implementation of modern Data Products, AI-powered Analytics Solutions and Intelligence Platforms built on modern cloud data platforms. This is a hands-on technical role focused on designing and implementing production-ready solutions that combine Data Engineering, Analytics and Generative AI capabilities. The successful candidate will act as the technical lead during delivery, translating high-level architectures and business requirements into scalable and maintainable solutions. The role requires a strong balance between technical depth, solution design capabilities and stakeholder interaction.

The ideal candidate is:

  • A senior hands-on engineer, not a pure architect.
  • Comfortable designing and implementing solutions.
  • Capable of leading technical delivery teams.
  • Able to work directly with business stakeholders when refining requirements.
  • Passionate about modern Data & AI technologies.
  • Experienced in taking solutions from concept to production.
  • Comfortable operating in ambiguous environments and defining implementation approaches.

Experience:

  • 6+ years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics Engineering or AI Engineering.
  • 3+ years of experience leading technical delivery of Data or AI initiatives.
  • Proven experience delivering enterprise-grade solutions on Snowflake or similar platforms.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Technical Leadership
    • Lead the technical implementation of Data & AI solutions from design through production deployment.
    • Own detailed solution design and technical architecture decisions.
    • Translate business and functional requirements into technical specifications.
    • Act as the technical reference point for delivery teams.
    • Participate in client workshops and technical discussions.
  • Data Engineering & Data Products
    • Design and implement scalable Data Products on Snowflake and modern cloud data platforms.
    • Develop and optimize data ingestion, transformation and serving layers.
    • Design and implement semantic and business data models.
    • Build curated data layers to support analytics, intelligence and AI use cases.
    • Ensure data quality, observability and performance across the platform.
    • Implement scalable ELT/ETL pipelines using modern engineering practices.
  • AI & Generative AI
    • Design and implement AI-powered business capabilities leveraging enterprise data.
    • Develop AI-generated insights, summaries, recommendations and intelligence use cases.
    • Build Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions.
    • Implement semantic search and vector-based retrieval architectures.
    • Design and optimize prompts, evaluation mechanisms and AI workflows.
  • Solution Design
    • Define detailed technical designs aligned with enterprise architecture standards.
    • Evaluate implementation approaches and technology trade-offs.
    • Contribute to architecture evolution and innovation initiatives.
    • Produce technical documentation and implementation blueprints.

Required Skills:

  • Data Engineering
    • Advanced SQL development.
    • Strong Python programming skills.
    • Data modelling (dimensional and modern analytical models).
    • ELT/ETL design and implementation.
    • Experience with modern data transformation frameworks such as dbt.
    • Data quality and observability practices.
    • Snowflake Ecosystem (Data Cloud, Snowflake SQL, Snowpark, Streams & Tasks, Secure Data Sharing, Governance & Security, Snowflake Cortex AI capabilities).
  • AI & Generative AI
    • Practical implementation experience with:
      • Large Language Models (LLMs)
      • Prompt Engineering
      • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
      • Embeddings and Vector Search
      • AI evaluation and testing
      • Enterprise AI solution development
  • Experience with one or more of:
    • Snowflake Cortex
    • Azure OpenAI
    • OpenAI APIs
    • Anthropic Claude
    • LangChain
    • Semantic Search solutions
  • Cloud Platforms
    • Experience with at least one:
      • Azure
      • AWS
      • GCP
  • Engineering Practices
    • Git and version control.
    • CI/CD pipelines.
    • DevOps and deployment automation.
    • Agile delivery methodologies.
    • Testing and code quality practices.

Nice to Have:

  • Experience with Snowflake.
  • Experience with Databricks.
  • Experience with Microsoft Fabric.
  • Experience building Data Products.

VASS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs, without regard to race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, or disability status. Join us in shaping the future of digital transformation.

Lead Data & AI Engineer in London employer: VASS UK&I

At VASS, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, fostering a vibrant work culture that champions innovation and collaboration among over 4,000 talented professionals. Our commitment to employee growth is evident through our investment in training and development, alongside our unique initiative where we allocate 2% of profits to community-focused projects, allowing employees to engage in meaningful solidarity actions. Join us in a dynamic environment where your contributions directly impact both our clients' digital transformation journeys and the communities we serve.

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Contact Details:

VASS UK&I Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Lead Data & AI Engineer in London

Get Involved in Data Science Meetups

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Apply Directly through Our Website

When you find a suitable opening like Lead Data & AI Engineer at VASS UK&I, make sure to apply directly through our website. It gives you an edge and shows you're keen to join our team. Plus, who doesn’t love a direct application? It’s easier than navigating through job boards!

We think you need these skills to ace Lead Data & AI Engineer in London

Data Engineering
Advanced SQL development
Strong Python programming skills
Data modelling (dimensional and modern analytical models)
ELT/ETL design and implementation
Experience with modern data transformation frameworks such as dbt
Data quality and observability practices

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show Off Your Projects:In the world of data science, your projects can speak volumes about your skills. Make sure to showcase a few key projects in your CV or portfolio, especially those that highlight your ability to work with data sets, build models, or use relevant tools like Python, R, or SQL. Don’t forget to include links to any GitHub repositories if applicable!

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Craft a Tailored Cover Letter:For a full-time role at VASS UK&I, your cover letter should reflect your passion for data science and your excitement about the specific projects or values of the company. Dive into why you’re a good fit, how your skills align with their needs, and any unique perspectives you can bring to the team.

Stand Out with Relevant Courses and Certifications:Although experience talks, relevant courses or certifications can be your ticket to impressing hiring managers at VASS UK&I. Mention any standout courses you've completed that equipped you with essential skills, such as machine learning certifications or data visualisation courses. This shows your commitment to continuously developing your skills in the field!

How to prepare for a job interview at VASS UK&I

Brush Up on Your Statistics

For a data science role, we need to seriously sharpen our statistics skills. Get ready to tackle technical questions on probability distributions, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis. These are often the bread and butter of data science interviews, so don't just skim over them!

Showcase Your Projects

Prepare a killer portfolio showcasing your data science projects. We should include details about the datasets used, the tools and techniques applied, and the impact of your findings. If we can walk them through a particularly challenging project or a cool visualisation that had real-world implications, it’ll really make us stand out!

Get Comfortable with Python and R

Most data science positions require us to be proficient in programming languages like Python and R. We should practice common libraries like pandas, NumPy, and scikit-learn, and be ready for live coding exercises or algorithm questions. Showing off our coding chops can really impress the interviewers at VASS UK&I!

Prepare for Case Studies

Expect to encounter real-world case studies during the interview. We might be asked how we’d approach a data problem or analyse a dataset to extract insights. It's essential to think out loud and demonstrate our problem-solving process so that the interviewer can see our logical thinking in action.