Lead AI Engineer

£560 per day (Inside IR35) | 12-Month Contract | Remote with Occasional London Travel

We are seeking an experienced Lead AI Engineer to join a high-profile government programme, leading the design and delivery of AI-enabled digital services and platforms.

This role will provide technical leadership across multidisciplinary teams, shaping architecture, engineering standards, and AI implementation strategies while supporting the development of scalable, secure, and user-focused solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of AI-enabled digital products, platforms, and services
• Provide technical leadership to front-end, back-end, and AI engineering teams
• Define and implement solution architecture, engineering standards, and best practices
• Drive the integration of Generative AI, LLMs, and machine learning capabilities into production services
• Work closely with senior stakeholders, product teams, architects, and delivery leads to align technical solutions with business objectives
• Mentor and develop engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement
• Ensure solutions meet government requirements for security, accessibility, scalability, and resilience
• Support technical governance, architecture reviews, and delivery planning activities

Essential Skills & Experience

• Significant experience in a Lead Engineer, Principal Engineer, Technical Lead, or AI Engineering Lead position
• Proven experience delivering AI-enabled products and services in complex enterprise environments
• Strong software engineering background across modern front-end and back-end technologies
• Experience designing and implementing cloud-native architectures within Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Strong understanding of Generative AI, LLMs, AI orchestration frameworks, and enterprise AI integration patterns
• Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams through the full software delivery lifecycle
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Previous experience delivering technology solutions within UK Government or Public Sector environments (essential)
• Eligible to obtain and maintain BPSS clearance

Desirable Experience

• Experience delivering AI-enabled mobile applications
• Knowledge of MLOps, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and Infrastructure as Code
• Experience with vector databases, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and AI agent frameworks
• Exposure to GDS standards and government digital delivery practices

Contract Details

• Role: Lead AI Engineer
• Rate: £560 per day
• IR35: Inside IR35
• Duration: 12 months
• Location: Remote, with occasional travel to London
• Clearance: BPSS Eligible
• Start Date: ASAP

Why Apply?

This is an opportunity to play a key leadership role in a major government AI transformation programme, helping shape the future of public services through the application of cutting-edge AI technologies. You’ll work alongside senior stakeholders and highly skilled engineering teams to deliver solutions with real national impact.