Applied AI Engineer: Incubator for AI in London

UK AI Tools; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employer pension 28.97%

Job summary

The Incubator for AI (i.AI) within the UK government seeks an Applied AI Engineer at senior to principal level for a fixed-term 24-month role. Hybrid working is available in London, Bristol, or Manchester with some remote work abroad.

The engineer prototypes AI products for public-sector problems and develops them from exploration to tested systems, collaborating across research, product, policy, and government teams.

Qualifications

• Experience shipping AI products or models.
• Strong Python skills.
• Knowledge of data structures and algorithms.
• Familiarity with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Experience with AI infrastructure or cloud platforms.
• Master's or PhD counts alongside industry experience.

Responsibilities

• Train, evaluate, and improve AI models and datasets.
• Design architectures for production-grade AI systems.
• Develop and test AI prototypes and move them to tested production solutions.
• Collaborate with research, product, policy, and government teams.

Skills

Python

PyTorch/TensorFlow

AI Infra / Cloud

Data structures & algorithms

Model deployment

Production software

Education

Masters/PhD in a relevant field

Job description

The Incubator for AI is hiring an Applied AI Engineer at senior to principal level for a fixed-term 24-month role within the UK government. The position is an AI job with a AI engineering role based in London, Bristol, or Manchester, with hybrid working and occasional remote work abroad. Annual pay ranges from £85,000 to £145,000, with four salary levels tied to seniority. The engineer prototypes AI products for public-sector problems and develops them from early experiments into tested systems. The role has a London base, with Bristol and Manchester also named as working locations. The team works with large language models, vision-language models, retrieval-augmented generation, agents, and other model families. The position suits experienced engineers who have shipped AI products or models and can work across research, product, policy, and government teams.

• Role: Applied AI Engineer, senior to principal level
• Employer: Incubator for AI (i.AI), within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Location: London, Bristol, or Manchester, with hybrid working
• Pay: £85,000 to £145,000 per year, plus a 28.97% employer pension contribution on base salary
• Employment type: Fixed-term, 24 months

AI Products For Public Services

The Incubator for AI sits within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and develops AI applications for the public good. The engineer turns government and product problems into AI tasks, then defines a technical architecture and selects a modelling approach. The work moves between research and delivery. Prototypes are tested with real users, refined through feedback, and shaped into products that address complex national challenges. The team works across disciplines with government leaders, researchers, product managers, policy colleagues, and senior leadership.

Models, Metrics, And Production Systems

The engineer trains, scaffolds, adapts, and evaluates models while building the datasets and benchmarks needed to judge them. AI engineer work also includes testing prototypes, analysing data, improving systems, and fixing software defects. Prototype AI solutions at speed and test their performance against defined use casesDefine measures for accuracy, robustness, latency, cost, and fairnessResearch new approaches and iterate on model behaviourDesign and implement architectures for production-grade AI systemsProduction work requires engineers to connect model behaviour with software quality and infrastructure. The role covers AI infrastructure and cloud platforms, model evaluation, data preparation, and the technical decisions that determine whether a system can operate reliably after its first demonstration.

Python, Cloud, And Model Tooling

The engineering team uses Python, TypeScript, and JavaScript, with AWS as the main cloud environment and access to Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. The toolchain includes LiteLLM, LangGraph, LangChain, DSPy, Langfuse, and Inspect. Model work can include AI agents, large language models, vision-language models, retrieval-augmented generation, computer vision, graph machine learning, recommendation systems, and reinforcement learning. The role also involves choosing the right model family for a problem rather than treating one technique as suitable for every service.

Senior Scope And Security Clearance

Applicants need experience shipping AI products or models, building benchmarks and datasets, and writing high-quality production software. The role asks for strong Python skills, knowledge of data structures and algorithms, familiarity with PyTorch or TensorFlow, and experience with AI infrastructure or cloud platforms. A master's degree or PhD in a relevant field counts alongside equivalent industry experience, and open-source or research contributions strengthen the technical record. Senior-level engineers take ownership of complex AI systems, contribute frontier AI expertise, mentor technical colleagues, and define problems with cross-functional teams. The engineer also identifies and mitigates technical, ethical, and safety risks. UK Government SC clearance is required, sponsorship and support are provided, and applicants normally need UK residence for two of the past five years.

Selection Stages And Civil Service Terms

The selection process starts with an initial conversation and continues with a technical take-home test. A second interview reviews the test, a third interview includes wider team representation, and the final interview includes senior team members. The role uses civil service terms and includes an employer pension contribution of 28.97% of base salary. Civil service benefits include 25 days of annual leave plus one additional day for each year of service, paid parental leave, learning and development days, stipends, conference funding, access to frontier models and computing resources, and a work-from-home equipment stipend.

Open-source contributions and cross-government innovation form part of the unit's wider work. Small empowered teams give engineers direct contact with the people shaping public services, while the public-good mission keeps technical work connected to government needs. i.AI has access to government data and computing power for its projects. The role therefore connects model development with the operational questions that arise when AI systems move into public services.