AI​/ML Research Consultant

• Technical Discipline: AI / Machine Learning
• Department:
  Awerian

Breakthrough technology is vital for strengthening UK defence and homeland security. As an AI/ML Research Consultant at Awerian, you will be at the forefront of this innovation race and support interesting and challenging projects which contribute to the defence and protection of the UK from the latest technological and cyber threats.

Awerian is continuing its rapid growth plan, making this a great time to join our multi‑disciplinary team. You will build on our successful track record, developing your career at the cutting edge of research and development and supported by our team of experts. We’re a business of individuals – however, our curiosity brings us together and it drives what we do.

Whether you’re leading a project or part of a project team, the ethos and structure of Awerian is designed to help you connect and thrive.

As a consultant at Awerian you will use your curiosity, creativity, and rigour to tackle diverse, real‑world challenges which are typically at the forefront of emerging AI/ML technologies. You will use your experience to design and deploy systems that apply machine learning to a broad range of tasks, often in novel settings, pulling together third‑party components and building elements yourself. You will research the fundamentals of models, their architectures, and each stage of the machine learning pipeline.

And you will see ideas become reality as you create impactful solutions through Awerian’s rapid approach to design and implementation. It’s a fantastically challenging, varied, and agile role.

Awerian’s wide variety of projects often bring together aspects of science, engineering and machine learning, and span initial proofs‑of‑concept through to development of working prototypes, providing both intellectual and practical challenges. Projects are rapidly evolving, in line with both the nature of the technology landscape and our clients’ requirements, and can span from a few months to years. Typical elements include:

• Analysing the latest techniques and advances in the literature.
• Generating new ideas and hypotheses.
• Developing and training models, often for niche applications.
• Rapid prototyping and troubleshooting.
• Designing and running experiments.
• Analysing results and drawing and presenting conclusions.
• Making recommendations for further research.

Projects will also stretch and develop your commercial awareness, through partnership with clients to understand their needs and deliver high‑quality outcomes at pace.

Successful applicants will demonstrate some of the following key attributes:

• Hold a strong undergraduate degree in a relevant subject including (but not limited to) Maths, Physics, Engineering, or Computer Science.
• Demonstrate research experience or potential, commensurate with their career stage. This may include postgraduate study, side projects, or on‑the‑job learning.
• Be a fluent Python programmer, with experience in one or more standard ML frameworks, e.g. PyTorch, Tensor Flow, Keras, or JAX.
• Possess experience across a range of machine learning techniques or the ability to adapt to new domains rapidly.
• Bring a rigorous scientific approach, creative problem‑solving ability, independent mindset, and broad interest in developments across the machine learning field.
• Be able to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
• Possess the ability to work both autonomously and collaboratively with an expert team in a high‑performing environment.

The following are desirable but not essential:

• Research experience in the UK Defence and Security sector.
• Experience of, or the skills required for, client‑facing roles.
• Technical expertise in one or more of the following areas:
  • Edge AI and, more broadly, machine learning techniques for resource‑constrained problems.
  • Optimising models for specific hardware, e.g. writing custom CUDA code or deploying to FPGA or embedded devices.
  • Hands‑on research into generative models.
  • Development of AI‑based or agentic tools.

Owing to the fast‑paced, collaborative nature of our work, successful applicant(s) would be expected to work…