Senior AI Engineer

Location:

Guernsey, Haywards Heath, Home Office (Remote) or Manchester Salary: from £70,000 depending on experience Department:
Technology and Data

We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology h has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!

Are you a seasoned AI expert ready to take your skills to the next level? Do words like Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Services, prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures, vector stores, and API integrations make you light up inside? If so, we want to hear from you!

At 1st Central
, we’re on an exciting journey with AI and Generative AI - and we’re looking for a Senior AI Engineer to help us shape the future. This isn’t just about writing code or building models (though there’ll be plenty of that too!). It’s about bringing smart ideas to life and making a real impact.

You’ll be at the heart of our AI strategy - from initial concept and prompt design, through development and testing, to deployment, production, monitoring and continuous improvement optimising cutting-edge AI solutions across the business.

One day you might be collaborating with our Data Scientists, Software Engineers and Architects on a new GenAI capability. The next, you’re fine-tuning prompts or experimenting with Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing (NLP). You’ll stay sharp on emerging trends in AI and push us to keep evolving and delivering state-of-the-art AI capabilities.

We’re big on flexibility. Our teams are spread across Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex and Guernsey
, but most of us work from home most of the time. We think collaboration is pretty great though, so we like to get together now and then - just to keep those creative sparks flying. Prefer being in the office more often? That works for us too. We’re even open to remote working - all we ask is that you join us in person about once a quarter to stay connected and keep those face-to-face vibes alive.

Skills that make you a great fit:

• Proven experience designing, developing, deploying, and managing production-grade AI and Generative AI systems – You’ve taken projects from whiteboard to real-world impact, building solutions that are scalable, secure, and actually deliver value in live environments.
• Supporting the organisation in the ethical and responsible adoption of AI solutions – You’re not just technically skilled; you understand the importance of fairness, transparency, and trust in AI, helping 1st Central make smart and ethical decisions about how we use this tech.
• Proactively identifying opportunities to drive efficiency and productivity through Generative AI – You stay curious, spotting where GenAI can simplify processes, enhance experiences, or save time—and you know how to turn those ideas into working solutions.

What’s involved:

• Lead the design and implementation of AI engineering frameworks and standards, emphasising API integrations, Azure infrastructure, and Azure security & networking.
• Architect and develop AI and Generative AI solutions using services like Azure OpenAI and Azure Cognitive Services
• Implement prompt engineering techniques and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures.
• Ensure scalability, security, auditability, and efficiency of AI solutions through detailed system design and development practices.
• Deploy and manage AI solutions via CI/CD pipelines in Azure Dev Ops, emphasising automation, version control, and continuous integration.
• Develop and maintain automated frameworks for testing, validation, and monitoring of AI model accuracy, performance, and reliability.
• Establish best practices for AI data pipeline development and integration with infrastructure to support scalable deployment.
• Collaborate closely with Data Scientists, Data Engineers, Software Developers, and Architects for seamless execution of AI initiatives from concept to deployment.
• Engage with business…