Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Job Title: Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Defence Location: London Salary: Up to £100,000 A specialist applied AI company supporting the Defence and National Security community is looking for a Senior Machine Learning Engineer to lead client engagements and take ownership of production ML solutions in some of the most technically demanding environments in the sector. This is not a back office engineering role. You will be embedded with clients and stakeholders onsite, translating complex operational problems into robust, deployable ML systems, and leading technical scoping and architectural decisions from initial concept through to live operation. The environments are often constrained, the stakes are high, and the sense of achievement is substantial. This role requires existing UK Developed Vetting (DV) clearance, or eligibility and willingness to obtain it. Please consider your ability to commit to onsite work in London before applying. What we are looking for * A degree in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, or a related STEM field, or equivalent practical experience * Strong Python engineering skills with a track record of clean, well-tested, production ready code * Hands-on experience with production infrastructure including Docker, Linux, CI/CD, MLOps, cloud platforms, and model serving architectures * Proven ability to lead technical scoping and make architectural decisions in fast-moving, ambiguous environments * Experience mentoring and developing junior engineers * Existing DV clearance, or eligibility and willingness to undergo and maintain vetting to DV level Particularly strong candidates will also have * Prior experience with government customers, defence contractors, or military environments * Experience with NLP, LLMs, or image processing * Experience with data processing and streaming tools such as Spark or Kafka * Experience building microservices in Python using Flask or FastAPI * Experience with interactive visualisation tools such as Streamlit, Plotly, or Gradio * Ability to produce clear technical documentation or written material Why this role At senior level you will have genuine influence over how ML solutions are architected and delivered to critical operational environments, with the opportunity to mentor junior engineers and shape technical standards across the team. The work carries real national security impact and the salary reflects both the seniority and the clearance requirement. This role requires existing right to work in the UK. If your background fits, apply below