Forward Deployed AI Engineer - UK Founding hire

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.*