Lead AI Architect

National Energy System Operator (NESO) recognises the potential of bright and talented individuals, and we encourage you to join us as Great Britain’s energy system undergoes an ambitious, exciting, and vital transformation. Together with industry, we are creating a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.

2026 continues to be an exciting year for NESO, where we are progressing with the execution of our strategy. Data & AI Architecture and Governance are key to our strategy. We are seeking an experienced AI Architect for our Strategy & Architecture function.

This role requires extensive expertise in AI architecture, including requirement analysis, solution design, technology selection, implementation, and monitoring and maintenance. Additionally, the AI Architect will play a crucial role in AI Governance, ensuring responsible and ethical use of AI technologies, establishing policies for data management, model transparency, and compliance with regulatory standards.

This role can be based from Warwick or Wokingham, and we continue to offer hybrid working from office and home. We are open to full time and part time applicants, as well as flexible working arrangements.

This role is designated as requiring a National Security Vetting (NSV) clearance. The level of clearance associated with the role is Security Check (SC). You will usually need to have been a resident in the UK for the last five years to apply for an SC clearance. We would invite any applicants who do not currently meet this residency requirement to still express an interest in the role.

• Lead the end-to-end design and architecture of AI, generative AI and agentic solutions from concept to production, developing high and low level design blueprints and driving technical implementation.
• Define the target AI architecture and reference patterns across the AI estate – spanning custom solutions, AI capabilities embedded in SaaS applications, and third-party AI services – making informed build-versus-buy and integration decisions, with Microsoft Azure as the primary delivery platform.
• Partner with stakeholders across the business to translate ambitious ideas into production-ready features and measurable outcomes.
• Ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure, resilient and compliant with relevant industry and regulatory standards.
• Establish evaluation and monitoring frameworks (including evaluation-driven development) so that AI solutions remain robust, accurate, observable and trustworthy in production.
• Embed AI governance and Responsible AI practices, defining policies for data management, model transparency, fairness, content safety and regulatory compliance.
• Serve as the technical subject-matter expert for AI solution architecture and implementation across the organisation.
• Develop AI implementation roadmaps, validate architectural designs and lead architecture workshops and technical discovery sessions.
• Guide the development of MLOps and LLMOps pipelines for continuous training, testing, deployment and monitoring in cloud environments, and oversee infrastructure decisions to guarantee scalability, security and maintainability.
• Support delivery teams, uphold architectural standards, and document solutions, lessons learned and reusable patterns.
• Stay current with AI trends, technologies and the competitive landscape, and bring emerging practices into the organisation.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK by the start of employment. Visa sponsorship may not be available for this role and will be considered in line with business requirements.

• Proven experience architecting and deploying AI/ML and agentic solutions, with a strong focus on generative AI in production environments.
• Hands-on…