AI SRE Lead (Lead AI Platform Engineer)

Barclays; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Barclays in Glasgow seeks an experienced AI SRE Lead to shape and operate large-scale AI-enabled platforms. You will guide design, engineering, reliability and governance, enabling teams across the bank to build, deploy and operate AI, ML and agentic solutions securely and at scale.

You will drive platform strategy, implement automation, and uphold resilience, security and risk controls within a complex regulatory environment.

Qualifications

• . AWS Networking/Compute/Storage expert with SRE/DevOps/Platform Engineering leadership experience.
• . Proven track record building enterprise platforms with reliability, observability, security and automation as core principles.
• . Strong governance, architecture review, risk management and stakeholder leadership in regulated environments.
• . Desirable: governance, security controls, AI governance, regulatory compliance and operational risk management.
• . Developer productivity and engineering excellence to improve platform adoption and developer experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering teams, fostering collaboration and high performance.
• Oversee timelines, allocation and risk management to deliver solutions on time and budget.
• Mentor team members, conduct reviews and provide actionable feedback.
• Evaluate and improve engineering processes, tools and workflows.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers and stakeholders to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Enforce standards, peer reviews, and robust testing practices.

Skills

AWS expert

SRE/DevOps leadership

AI/GenAI delivery

CI/CD & IaC

Backstage experience

Cloud automation

Tools

Backstage

Coder

CI/CD

IaC

Chaos Engineering

Job description

Join Barclays as an AI SRE Lead (Lead AI Platform Engineer) and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our AI platforms and developer ecosystem. You will lead the design, engineering, reliability and operational excellence of large-scale AI-enabled platforms, enabling teams across the organisation to build, deploy and operate innovative AI, machine learning and agentic solutions securely and at scale. Working at the intersection of Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, Cloud Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence, you will drive platform strategy, engineering excellence, resilience and automation while ensuring the highest standards of reliability, governance and risk management within a complex regulated environment.

Essential Skills

• AWS Networking/Compute/Storage expert; SRE/DevOps/Platform Engineering leader; strong AI/ML, GenAI & Agentic AI delivery experience; hands-on Backstage, Coder, CI/CD, IaC, Chaos Engineering and large-scale cloud deployments.

• Proven experience building and operating enterprise platforms with reliability, observability, security, resilience and automation as core principles.

• Strong technology governance, architecture review, risk management and stakeholder leadership experience within complex regulated environments.

Desirable Skills

• Enterprise Technology Governance & Risk Management experience, including architecture governance, security controls, AI governance, regulatory compliance, and operational risk management.

• Developer Productivity & Engineering Excellence experience driving platform adoption, golden paths, software engineering modernization, developer experience improvements, and engineering operating models.

This role is based in Glasgow

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills

Purpose of the role

To lead and manage engineering teams, providing technical guidance, mentorship, and support to ensure the delivery of high-quality software solutions, driving technical excellence, fostering a culture of innovation, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to align technical decisions with business objectives.

Accountabilities

• Lead engineering teams effectively, fostering a collaborative and high-performance culture to achieve project goals and meet organizational objectives.
• Oversee timelines, team allocation, risk management and task prioritization to ensure the successful delivery of solutions within scope, time, and budget.
• Mentor and support team members' professional growth, conduct performance reviews, provide actionable feedback, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Evaluation and enhancement of engineering processes, tools, and methodologies to increase efficiency, streamline workflows, and optimize team productivity.
• Collaboration with business partners, product managers, designers, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions and ensure a cohesive approach to product development.
• Enforcement of technology standards, facilitate peer reviews, and implement robust testing practices to ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and elevate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.