AI Platform Lead Engineer — RAG & API Strategy

Elsevier; City Of London; On-site; GBP 91,000 - 152,000; Full time

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking an Engineering Lead to guide a small team delivering the CK AI Service. You will set technical direction, mentor six engineers, and own the design and governance of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows and API expansion.

This role focuses on reducing bottlenecks, standardizing practices, and aligning with cross-functional teams to mature the platform while balancing short-term delivery with long-term sustainability.

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering teams and mentoring.
• Proven track record reducing knowledge silos.
• Ability to remove blockers and improve delivery velocity.
• Experience designing scalable team structures for growth.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and APIs at scale.
• Hands-on with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows.

Responsibilities

• Managing and mentoring of six direct reports.
• Own the technical strategy and execution for CK AI Service, including RAG workflows and API expansion.
• Improve delivery velocity by reducing bottlenecks and standardizing practices.
• Establish a sustainable leadership model to support team growth.
• Collaborate with Data Science to drive product roadmap and feature design.

Skills

Team leadership

Performance management

RAG workflows

API design

Distributed systems

LLM integration

Job description

Elsevier is seeking an Engineering Lead to guide a small team delivering the CK AI Service. You will set technical direction, mentor six engineers, and own the design and governance of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows and API expansion.

This role focuses on reducing bottlenecks, standardizing practices, and aligning with cross-functional teams to mature the platform while balancing short-term delivery with long-term sustainability.