Senior AI Consultant

Softwire is a leading UK technology and strategy consultancy. From enterprise to government, we help visionary organisations turn strategic ambitions into results  practices cover AI transformation, data platforms, systems engineering, advanced CX and experience design.

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: if we can create the best possible culture and working environment, then everything else will fall into place. And it seems to be working - We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards, and we have a loyal and growing client base who trust us with their hardest problems and their mission‑critical projects.

We focus on creating a great culture and working environment and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:

• That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
• That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun.
• That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike.
• That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules.

When you work with Softwire, you’re not only becoming part of a team with in-depth technical skills and delivery expertise – you’ll be working in a high‑trust environment alongside skilled, kind, fun people who are passionate about creating amazing services and experiences that solve real problems.

Softwire is looking for a Senior AI Consultant to help our clients turn the current wave of AI capability (especially LLMs) into real, valuable, maintainable software.

This role is for a strong senior engineer/tech lead type who can bring AI into delivery teams in two ways:

• Using AI tooling to improve engineering productivity across whole teams (e.g. coding assistants, test generation, code review support, documentation acceleration, internal dev workflows)
• Building products and platforms that incorporate AI/LLM features, safely and pragmatically

While a detailed scientific understanding of ML and AI theory is helpful, the primary goal is delivery: shipping the right thing, safely, with modern engineering practices.

As a Senior AI Consultant, you’ll operate as a senior technical leader on client work, helping teams move from “AI curiosity” to working, production‑grade solutions.

You will:

• Work hands‑on within multidisciplinary teams to design and deliver AI‑enabled software
• Help clients make the right calls on where AI adds value (and where it doesn’t)
• Use, advise on, and develop AI‑related features such as:
  • Intelligent search/retrieval experiences and RAG
  • Summarisation and document comprehension at scale
  • Context management
  • AI agents, MCP servers, and best‑practice configuration of, for example, AGENTS.md
  • Advanced use of tools such as Claude Code and Codex
  • Assistants and copilots embedded into workflows
  • Classification, extraction, and decision support tooling
  • Retraining and fine‑tuning models
  • Calculation/forecasting of token usage
  • Well‑formed opinions on and experience of AI‑enhanced SDLCs
• Set teams up for sustainable success through:
  • Strong engineering practices (testing, CI/CD, observability, quality)
  • Clear system boundaries and maintainable architecture
  • Safe and secure deployment patterns for AI components at scale
  • AI performance, accuracy, and reliability monitoring through evals
  • Coach and upskill client engineers on pragmatic, safe adoption of AI tools and techniques
• Keeping yourself and your team up‑to‑date on the latest AI techniques and technology
• Contribute to Softwire’s internal capability building: patterns, accelerators, reusable approaches, and a strong culture of “learning by building”

This is a role where engineering leadership matters, not just experimenting with AI, but integrating it into systems responsibly, with teams who need to operate and extend it long after go‑live.

You’re a strong senior software engineer/tech lead who can take ownership of technical delivery end‑to‑end, working hands‑on while also guiding others. You bring credibility with both engineers and stakeholders, and you’re comfortable being the person who turns ambiguity into momentum.