Lead AI Engineer; GenAI

Senior AI Engineer – Generative AI Applications

£80,000 to £100,000 plus benefits | Hybrid (3 days office, 2 days home)

Location:

Oxfordshire

Are you an experienced engineer ready to lead cutting-edge generative AI projects?

Curious about shaping AI systems that go beyond the hype and deliver genuine impact?

Looking to join a fast-moving, highly technical team solving complex, meaningful challenges?

If you're motivated by hands-on technical work, strategic influence, and a culture of innovation, this role could be your perfect fit.

Our client, a pioneering organisation with deep technical roots, has pivoted to become the ChatGPT of their niche. They are now seeking a Senior AI Engineer to help drive the next wave of generative AI application development.

This is a 70 percent hands-on, 30 percent leadership role
, offering the chance to lead by doing. You’ll work closely with fellow engineers, data scientists and product thinkers to build AI-driven systems that are not only smart but reliable, scalable and genuinely useful.

• Architecting and building powerful generative AI systems with real-world impact
• Collaborating across disciplines to design applications users will love
• Taking ownership of cloud infrastructure, data integration and production-level optimisation
• Exploring the boundaries of what LLMs can do and pushing them further

You don’t need to be a specialist in any one domain. Your strength lies in being a strong engineer who can pick up new concepts quickly, understand trade-offs and build systems that work in production. You’ll bring a keen interest in emerging AI tools and how they can be deployed in thoughtful, creative ways.

• Python as your core language, building backend services and AI pipelines
• Generative AI tools such as OpenAI APIs, LLM agents and prompt engineering frameworks
• Cloud platforms including AWS, GCP or Azure for scalable deployments
• CI/CD pipelines, containerisation (such as Docker) and real-time APIs

• Production-level LLM applications including fine-tuning and customisation
• Function-calling systems or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures
• Full-lifecycle projects from prototyping to production
• Mentoring junior engineers or shaping technical direction within teams

• A high-impact role with visibility and technical influence
• The opportunity to shape the next generation of AI platforms
• Hybrid working with three days per week onsite in Oxfordshire and two days remote
• A supportive team that values experimentation, clean engineering and continuous learning
• A salary of £80,000 to £100,000
  , with flexibility for exceptional candidates

We and our client believe diverse teams build better products. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to a fair and inclusive hiring process. If you're unsure whether you meet every single requirement,
please apply anyway
. If you're excited about the role and what you could contribute, we want to hear from you.

If you're a thoughtful, experienced engineer ready to make your mark in generative AI, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now with your CV or get in touch for a confidential conversation.