Lead AI Engineer

Lead AI Engineer | Python, RAG, LLMOps | Central Government AI Programme Handling Sensitive Data at ScaleSalary: £100,000

Location: One day a week onsite in Newcastle (4 days remote)Clearance: BPSS (SC eligibility a plus)I'm working with a digital consultancy that delivers for UK government, and they need a Lead AI Engineer for a large AI programme at a central government department.

You'll be the hands-on builder of semantic search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines and wider generative AI, running in production on high-volume, sensitive public-sector data.The Lead Technical Architect sets direction and you turn it into working systems. You'll stay close to the code while leading a small squad that will grow, setting standards, reviewing pull requests and flagging problems early.It's hybrid from Newcastle upon Tyne, with one day a week on site, so it suits someone based in the North East or within easy reach of it.What They're Looking For (Non-Negotiables)RAG pipelines: built and shipped into productionPython: expert level, production-grade and well testedSemantic search, retrieval and embedding infrastructureTechnical leadership: coding standards, design and PR reviews, mentoringEvaluation harnesses: retrieval accuracy, hallucination rate, bias and fairnessLLMOps / MLOps: versioning, deployment, monitoring and rollbackExtensive hands-on delivery in enterprise, public sector or regulated environmentsWhat You'll Work WithLLM orchestration and agentic frameworks: LangChain, LlamaIndex or similarAWS, Azure or GCP, including their AI/ML tooling, across a multi-cloud estateContainers and Infrastructure as Code (IaC)CI/CD pipelines built for AI workloadsData pipelines over unstructured and legacy sourcesGuardrail tooling: hallucination detection and safety testingLogging, monitoring and alerting for production AI servicesNice to HavesSC eligibilityAWS, Azure or GCP certifications (associate or professional)UK central government or wider public sector deliveryFine-tuning open-source or foundation models for a domainOpen-source contributions or active in AI/ML engineering communitiesSustainable or Green IT designWider AI exposure: NLP, computer vision, RPA, predictive AIWhy Join / ProjectsYou'll build GenAI that runs in production for a central government department, integrated with legacy systems and handling sensitive data at volume.You'll put Responsible AI into the running system, building the guardrails, evaluation harnesses and human-in-the-loop checks the architect designs, in line with ATRS and NCSC Secure by Design.You'll pair with civil servants and upskill them through Docs-as-Code, so the department can own what you build.You'll shape the squad from the start, with junior AI and QA engineers joining as it grows.You'll right-size models and infrastructure rather than reaching for the biggest option, in line with the programme's Green AI and Net Zero goals.Employee BenefitsPensionPrivate healthcareRewards gateway25 days holidayThey're moving quickly on this one, so apply and I'll call you to talk it through.Lead AI Engineer | Python, RAG, LLMOps | Central Government AI Programme Handling Sensitive Data at Scale