Summary
✨ AI‑Generated
Be the founding UK engineering hire for an advanced AI organization and help establish its local engineering and deployment capability. As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer, you will work directly with enterprise customers to design, deploy, and continuously improve production-grade generative AI systems combining models, agents, data, and evaluation frameworks. The role offers significant technical ownership and a path toward leadership.
Highlights
Founding UK engineering opportunity with substantial ownership, direct enterprise customer impact, hands-on work with production GenAI systems, exposure to advanced AI research, and the chance to help establish a new engineering function.
Description
Job Description
Lead Forward Deployed AI Engineer — UK Founding Hire
An industry-leading US-based AI company, known for building and deploying generative AI systems that transform large-scale enterprise operations is expanding into the UK.
As their UK Founding Engineer, you’ll be the first local member of a high-performing global team, helping to build the engineering and deployment presence from the ground up and moving forwards, help lead the UK office/function.
The Role
As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer, you’ll work directly with enterprise customers to build, operate, and continuously improve production-grade GenAI systems.
This is a hands-on, impact-driven role where you’ll design and iterate on end-to-end solutions that blend models, agents, data, and evaluation frameworks into reliable, scalable deployments.
As the first UK hire, you’ll build alongside a world-class engineering and research team deploying frontier AI capabilities and will be enabled to shape the foundation of their UK function and engineering culture; whilst working on systems that move beyond prototypes.
What You’ll Do
Design and implement compound AI workflows that combine models, retrieval, evaluation, and execution into cohesive production systems.
Operate on live AI deployments: monitor behaviour, identify failure modes, and iterate continuously to improve performance and reliability.
Integrate systems into real customer environments; from data platforms and APIs to business applications.
Collaborate directly with enterprise teams, often in high-visibility projects, explaining technical trade-offs and outcomes with clarity.
Take ownership of real-world outcomes, ensuring AI systems deliver measurable business value and adapt as client needs evolve.
Skills And Experience Required
7+ years of hands-on software/AI engineering experience (Python preferred) Strong foundation in system design, debugging, testing, and performance optimization.
Proven experience building AI-driven applications - not just using APIs, but composing prompts, models, agents, and evaluation mechanisms into operational systems.
Comfortable working in dynamic customer-facing environments and communicating clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Naturally curious about AI and proactive in experimenting with new tools and techniques.
Willingness to travel occasionally (25–50%).
For further information and immediate consideration, please get in touch.
