Artificial Intelligence Specialist

Skillfinder International; Leeds; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech consultant is seeking a Senior AI Architect for a contract role in the UK. This position focuses on driving the design and development of AI applications using advanced technologies such as large language models and cloud-native architecture on Azure. The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of software architecture experience, 3 years in AI/ML development, and strong expertise in Azure architecture. This position offers the chance to set architectural standards and collaborate across teams in an enterprise setting.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in software architecture and enterprise solutions.
• 3+ years of hands-on AI/ML development experience.
• Strong Azure cloud architecture expertise.
• Proficiency with LLMs, RAG, agent-based systems, and data science techniques.

Responsibilities

• Design & build AI-driven applications using LLMs for summarisation and generation.
• Integrate agentic AI frameworks for autonomous workflows.
• Lead architecture for scalable AI/ML service deployment.
• Deliver full-stack Azure-based solutions.
• Collaborate with DevOps/MLOps teams for CI/CD pipelines.
• Provide technical leadership and shape AI strategy.

Skills

Software architecture

AI/ML development

Azure cloud architecture

Proficiency with LLMs

Frontend experience (React, Angular or Vue)

Job description

Senior AI Architect – Contract Role Driving Autonomous AI on Azure

Are you an AI specialist with a passion for large language models, cutting-edge agentic frameworks, and cloud-native architecture? Join a major programme shaping the future of intelligent systems within an enterprise environment.

We’re hiring a Senior AI Architect for an extendable contract role (inside IR35). You’ll lead the design and development of AI applications using state-of-the-art LLMs (e.g. OpenAI, Gemini, Mistral), advanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and frameworks like LangGraph, CrewAI, and AutoGen.

This is a high-impact opportunity to set architectural standards, collaborate across engineering and DevOps teams, and build production-grade AI systems at scale—particularly across the Azure cloud ecosystem.

What you’ll do

• Design & build AI-driven applications using LLMs for summarisation, generation, Q&A, and reasoning.
• Integrate agentic AI frameworks to create autonomous / semi-autonomous workflows.
• Lead architecture for scalable AI / ML service deployment, model orchestration, and monitoring.
• Deliver full-stack Azure-based solutions with secure backend, frontend, and data services.
• Collaborate with DevOps / MLOps teams to streamline CI / CD pipelines for AI workloads.
• Provide technical leadership and shape wider AI strategy across the programme.

Essential skills

• 8+ years in software architecture / enterprise solutions.
• 3+ years of hands-on AI / ML development experience.
• Strong Azure cloud architecture expertise.
• Proficiency with LLMs, RAG, agent-based systems, and data science techniques.
• Frontend experience (React, Angular or Vue) integrated with backend AI services.

Nice to have

• Experience guiding multidisciplinary teams in a regulated or enterprise setting.