AI Delivery Lead & Architect - Immediate Start

About Us Inference Group is a fast-growing data and AI consultancy dedicated to helping organisations unlock their true potential through the transformative power of data, machine learning, and AI. We work with customers worldwide to turn cutting-edge ideas into scalable, operational solutions that enhance human decision-making and drive sustainable growth. Built by a team of curious, passionate technologists, Inference Group combines deep technical expertise with a practical, delivery-focused mindset. As we grow, we’re looking for like-minded people who are excited by lifelong learning, eager to challenge existing ways of working, and motivated to make a real impact in an AI-driven world. Role Overview We're looking for an experienced AI Delivery Lead \& Architect to lead the design, architecture and successful delivery of enterprise AI solutions for our clients. This is a senior consulting role that combines deep technical expertise with strong leadership, commercial awareness and client engagement. You'll work closely with senior stakeholders to understand complex business challenges, design scalable AI and data architectures, and lead multidisciplinary teams to deliver production-ready solutions that create measurable business value. You'll play a key role in shaping our AI consulting capability, establishing delivery best practices, mentoring consultants and engineers, and supporting business growth through technical leadership and trusted client relationships. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, thrives in client-facing consulting environments, and is excited by the rapidly evolving world of AI. Location: This is a remote role, with occasional travel to customer sites and team meetups as required. Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK. Unfortunately, we cannot offer visa sponsorship. What You’ll Do * Lead the end-to-end delivery of enterprise AI, data and integration projects from discovery through to production deployment. * Design scalable AI solution architectures using modern Large Language Models (LLMs), including Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI and emerging AI technologies. * Architect enterprise data platforms that successfully integrate AI capabilities into existing business systems and processes. * Design and implement Master Data Management (MDM), Data Quality and Data Governance frameworks that improve the quality, consistency and trustworthiness of enterprise data. * Design robust integration architectures across enterprise applications, APIs, cloud platforms and AI services. * Build event-driven solutions using Azure messaging technologies, including Azure Service Bus and publish-subscribe (Pub/Sub) architectures. * Work directly with senior client stakeholders to understand business challenges and translate them into scalable, practical technical solutions. * Lead and mentor multidisciplinary teams of AI Engineers, Data Engineers and Consultants across multiple client engagements. * Establish engineering best practices across Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, release management and deployment processes. * Ensure technical excellence through architecture governance, security best practices, code reviews and responsible AI principles. * Support pre-sales activities including technical discovery workshops, solution design, proposals, client presentations and estimation. * Stay at the forefront of AI, cloud and data technologies, evaluating new tools and approaches that create value for our clients and business. * Help shape and grow our AI consulting practice through thought leadership, delivery frameworks and continuous improvement. Ideally you will have: * Experience delivering enterprise AI, cloud and data transformation projects within consulting or professional services. * Strong Python development skills and experience building production-ready AI applications using modern LLMs (e.g. Claude, OpenAI) and RAG architectures. * Proven expertise in enterprise integration architecture, APIs, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Quality and Data Governance. * Strong Azure experience, including Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, Git, Azure Service Bus (Pub/Sub) and modern software engineering practices. * Excellent solution architecture skills, with a strong understanding of enterprise security, governance and Responsible AI principles. * Proven experience leading multidisciplinary technical teams and mentoring engineers within a consulting environment. * Confident engaging with senior stakeholders (CIO, CTO and business leaders), facilitating workshops and translating business challenges into scalable technical solutions. * Commercially minded, with experience supporting solution design, proposals and business development. * Experience with Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, Microsoft Purview or Azure certifications would be advantageous. * What Success Looks Like During your first 12 months you can expect to: * Successfully deliver multiple enterprise AI and data transformation programmes from concept through to production. * Become a trusted technical advisor to senior client stakeholders. * Establish repeatable AI delivery frameworks, technical standards and architecture best practices. * Build high-performing delivery teams through mentoring, coaching and technical leadership. * Help win new consulting engagements through solution architecture and technical expertise. * Deliver scalable AI solutions that create measurable business outcomes for our clients. * Play a key role in the continued growth and reputation of Inference Group's growing AI consulting practice. Working With Us: At Inference Group, we believe successful AI transformation is about far more than technology. It's about helping people understand, trust, adopt, and scale new ways of working. You'll work alongside AI Engineers, Data Scientists, Product Leaders, and Consultants to help organisations realise value from AI in practice. We invest heavily in learning, experimentation, and emerging technologies, and we're looking for people who are excited to help shape the future of AI adoption. Our Values are: > We Geek Out Loud: we excel in our data and AI domain, using our expertise to deliver solutions that realise value. We share our wisdom and experience proudly, no egos, just pure tech passion. > We Act Boldly, and Collaborate Openly: we explore uncharted territories, working on the new to deliver operational solutions at scale. We don’t tread over old ground. We collaborate openly with full transparency, learning from each other as a community. > We are the Connectors: we bridge the gaps between business value, data engineering, data science and deployment. Working seamlessly as one unified team internally and externally to deliver working solutions for our clients. > We Empower our Customers: we equip our clients with the skills and knowledge to fully leverage, scale and deploy data and AI solutions. We prioritise delivering operational success over prototypes and proof of concepts to provide long term value. We build trust. > We Love our Work: we are proud of the work we do and take ownership of it. We work on the things we love and care about, we work with passion with people we respect. > We are Data Jedis: we work on hard problems and aim to deliver working solutions at scale. We don’t have time for politics, backbiting, gossiping, game playing or selfish behaviour. We work as one team with a mission to deliver and we will only achieve that together.