Forward Deployed AI Engineer

The Role

We are currently seeking a talented and autonomous Forward Deployed AI Engineer to join our optimAI team, reporting to VP Innovation and AI Services. This is a crucial, high-impact role for a self-starter who will be responsible for bringing our most innovative AI concepts to life, from initial prototype to final deployment. The most important skill is a deep curiosity and a scientific mindset, alongside a desire to build incredible things. You will be a hands-on generalist, bridging the gap between data science, software engineering, and generative AI. Your primary goal is to work to outcomes, not specific instructions, with a focus on delivering tangible value that delights the customer. The role may require time spent on-site with customers to deliver solutions.

We love to work with people who have a deeply curious mindset and the ability to work in an agile, fast-paced environment. You will monitor technology trends, build solutions, and have the opportunity to experiment and define the future. You must be able to articulate the "why" behind your work in terms of clear customer value, and we want you to develop your opinions and deep insights for the projects you work on.

Successful candidates must be eligible for, and able to obtain and maintain, Security Check (SC) level security clearance.

Key Responsibilities

• End-to-End Development: Design, build, and deploy AI-driven solutions, including setting up databases, creating data pipelines, and integrating models into production systems.
• AI and Machine Learning: Track the latest model releases, compare and evaluate them against customer use-cases, explore and deploy the latest AI data architectures.
• Infrastructure Management: Configure and manage local AI infrastructure, including setting up and optimizing Large Language Models (LLMs) and knowledge bases for local use.
• Full-Stack Development with AI integration: Create front-end prototypes and back-end systems for agentic simulations and other AI applications to showcase their potential. Be comfortable working with both manual- and AI-generated code.
• Prompt and Query Engineering: Work alongside our data scientists to develop and test complex queries and prompt engineering techniques to optimize the performance of our AI models.
• Research and Learning: Capture key learnings, pitfalls, and best practices from your work to inform our overall AI strategy and future roadmap.
• Collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, data scientists, and senior leadership, to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Project Ownership: Autonomously drive projects and be able to clearly articulate the value of each one to the customer. This requires a self-starter who can work to outcomes rather than just following instructions.
• Travel and On-Site Working: Be willing to spend time deployed with customers to solve their most difficult problems using our software and solutions.

Skills, Knowledge, and Expertise

• Education: an undergraduate degree in a technical discipline (computer science, mathematics, physics, etc.) from a top university. Relevant Masters and PhD qualifications will be considered a strong plus.
• AI/ML Expertise: Hands-on experience with a variety of AI tools, frameworks, and concepts, including working with LLMs (Large Language Models) , RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) , and deploying AI solutions.
• Software Development: Ability to think in terms of abstractions, modularity, and repeatability, as well as work with AI code generation agents. Experience with languages like Rust, C++, or Python is a significant plus. Although desirable, there is no explicit requirement for previous-years-of-experience; we're looking for skills as opposed to time served.
• Technical Versatility: A strong background as a generalist engineer with demonstrated experience across multiple technical domains. The ability to write great code is more important than proficiency in any specific language.
• Execution Focus: Able to act fast and decisively to get things done, with a bias towards action. You should be systematic but not rigid, making thoughtful tradeoffs to move projects forward.
• Customer-Centric Mindset: An ability to understand customer value hypotheses against concepts and translate them into functional prototypes.
• Deep Curiosity & Humility: A deeply curious mindset is essential. You should also be humble and comfortable saying "I don't know" when appropriate.
• Communication: Can articulate complex and highly technical ideas clearly. You should be able to communicate effectively internally and externally.

Job Benefits

We make Hadean an awesome place to work with competitive benefits...

• The option to work from home (Weds/Thurs/Fri) or from our fantastic office in Shoreditch, London (as many days as you like!)
• Flexible working
• Private Health Insurance
• Enhanced pension scheme
• Enhanced parental leave
• 3 extra days off at Christmas (on top of our standard 25)
• L&D budget
• Regularly scheduled socials
• Share options

A Place For Everyone

We believe diversity drives innovation and for that reason we strongly encourage those from all backgrounds to apply for roles at Hadean. We are an equal opportunity employer and aim to build a workforce that is truly representative of the communities in which we operate and our clients.

If you need reasonable adjustments at any point in the application or interview process, please speak with the People team who will be happy to support you. If you have a preferred pronoun, please feel free to highlight this during the process (e.g. she/her, he/him, they/them, etc.).

Department Innovation Locations London