Senior AI Engineer (Permanent/Freelance options)

Location: London or Manchester with Remote options

Contract Duration: 6 months

Daily Rate: £550 - 1200 Depending on seniority

The Opportunity

We're looking for a Principal AI Engineer to lead the design and delivery of AI-powered software solutions that solve complex business challenges. You'll combine deep engineering expertise with hands-on AI development, helping shape technical direction while turning emerging technologies into scalable, secure, production-ready solutions.

This is a senior individual contributor role for someone who enjoys building, experimenting, and driving innovation through modern software engineering and AI.

What You'll Do

• Design and build scalable, secure, cloud-native applications.
• Lead technical architecture and engineering best practice across AI initiatives.
• Develop AI-powered solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Prototype new technologies and proof of concepts to validate emerging ideas.
• Integrate AI capabilities into enterprise applications and workflows.
• Write high-quality code in Java, Python, and other modern languages.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and QA teams to deliver impactful solutions.
• Champion automation, testing, CI/CD, and secure software development.
• Stay at the forefront of AI and software engineering trends.

What You'll Bring

• Significant experience in software engineering and solution architecture.
• Commercial experience building AI-enabled applications, with at least one year of hands-on AI development.
• Strong Java and/or Python development skills.
• Experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, embeddings, vector databases, and RAG.
• Experience deploying AI solutions into production environments.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and modern DevOps practices.
• A passion for innovation, experimentation, and solving complex technical challenges.

Why Join?

You'll play a key role in shaping the future of AI within a technology-driven financial services business, working with modern tools, solving meaningful problems, and influencing the next generation of intelligent products and platforms.