AI and Data Engineers/Architects (Security Cleared)

Data and AI Engineers & Architects | Cheltenham | £80,000 – £140,000

About the Opportunity

Sanderson G&D are partnering exclusively with a fast-growing data consultancy specialising in designing, building, and operating AI-ready data infrastructure for some of the UK’s most complex and sensitive programmes. They work across government and national security, delivering secure, scalable, cloud-native solutions that handle data at scale – in real time and in batch.

They are growing and looking for senior data professionals across three disciplines.

Roles We’re Hiring For

Data/AI Architect – Shape data strategy and architecture across high-profile, secure programmes. You’ll design and implement scalable, cloud-native solutions on AWS and other platforms, provide technical leadership across cross-functional teams, and engage directly with senior stakeholders to translate requirements into actionable technical plans.

AI Platform Engineers – Lead the development of backend services for a government client, with a focus on high availability, low latency, and scalability. You’ll design, build, and deploy backend features, own continuous deployment pipelines, and operate within agile, cross-functional delivery teams.

Data & AI Engineers – Build and maintain secure batch and real-time data pipelines for government clients. You’ll work across data ingestion, modelling, and pipeline development, ensuring data is available, reliable, and aligned to target architectures.

What We’re Looking For

Across all three roles, the following experience is relevant:

• 5-6+ years in a senior data engineering, architecture, or platform role
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, Redshift, Glue, Athena)
• Experience with real-time and batch data processing – Apache Flink, Kafka, Spark, or similar
• Proficiency in one or more of: Python, Java, Scala
• Experience with data modelling, ETL processes, and distributed systems
• Comfortable working in agile and DevOps environments
• Experience in sensitive or regulated data environments is highly desirable
• eDV eligibility is an essential requirement – candidates must be a sole UK national

Why This Opportunity?

This is not a typical consultancy. The bar to get in is high – deliberately so. You will be working alongside some of the best data engineers in the country, on platforms that genuinely matter. These are not internal IT projects. This is mission-critical infrastructure that underpins national security.

Beyond the work itself, this is a business that is growing quickly, investing heavily in its technology, and giving its people real ownership of that journey. If you want to be at the leading edge of secure data infrastructure – surrounded by engineers who take their craft seriously – it is worth a conversation.

Benefits include:

• Pension
• Private Medical Insurance (company provided, with buy-up for family)
• Annual wellbeing allowance
• Virtual GP
• Employee Assistance Programme (mental health, legal support, and more)
• Annual training allowance (post-probation)
• Tech scheme and voluntary benefits including dental, critical illness, and travel insurance
• Remote-first working culture

Further Details

• Location: Cheltenham
• Salary: £80,000 – £140,000 depending on role and experience
• Clearance: eDV eligibility essential – sole UK nationals only

Reasonable Adjustments:

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.

If you need any help or adjustments during the recruitment process for any reason, please let us know when you apply or talk to the recruiters directly so we can support you.