Chief AI Engineer

Lloyds Banking Group; Manchester; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 15%

Annual bonus

Share schemes

Discounted shopping

30 days holiday

Wellbeing initiatives and parental leа

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group seeks a senior AI leader to shape the future of Conversational AI across millions of customer interactions. You’ll design scalable architectures, set technical direction, and guide cross‑functional teams of AI engineers, data scientists and architects to deliver high‑impact solutions.

You will translate strategic priorities into an ambitious AI roadmap, ensure alignment with enterprise standards and responsible AI commitments, and foster a high‑performing, inclusive

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in building deployed AI systems.
• Strong NLP, LLM and AI agent capabilities.
• Ability to communicate complex AI topics to senior leaders.
• Experience working in regulated environments with reliability and security concerns.

Responsibilities

• Shape the Conversational AI roadmap and architecture.
• Lead and coach a high‑performing AI engineering team.
• Collaborate with business, design and tech leaders to align strategy.
• Evaluate new AI technologies and prototypes.

Skills

GenAI

Agentic AI

NLP & LLMs

AI ethics

Transformers

Stakeholder comms

Regulated environment

People management

Tools

Vector stores

Cloud platforms

Job description

Our ambition is to be the leading UK business for diversity, equity and inclusion supporting our customers, colleagues and communities, and we're committed to creating an environment in which everyone can thrive, learn and develop.

• Recognised expertise in GenAI and Agentic AI technology, with experience of creating novel solution to real-world problems and successfully delivering AI systems to production
• Strong experience in NLP technologies such as generative AI, AI agents, chatbots, language models, transformers, vector stores, and search algorithms
• Experience in building and extending full conversational AI architecture from front end experience through AI services to back end system integrations
• Experience in understanding and applying ethical AI standards
• Ability to communicate technical concepts simply to senior leaders and partner teams
• Experience of working in a regulated environment and managing reliability, security, safety and explainability risks
• Line management experience in coaching various levels of technical staff
• A relentless passion to learn more about AI and its real-world applications at scale

We know that great talent comes from many backgrounds. Whilst this job advert may reference specific years of experience, we recognise that skills are developed in many ways, so if you have relevant, transferable experience, we encourage you to apply.

As a senior leader in our Conversational AI team, you'll shape the future of how millions of customers interact with the bank. Drawing on your deep expertise in AI and conversational technologies, you'll design and deliver scalable, reusable architectures that enable high-volume customer engagement while leveraging the latest advancements in AI. You'll define the technical direction across multiple products, ensuring solutions align with our platform strategy, enterprise architecture principles, engineering standards and responsible AI commitments. You'll act as the leading technical authority for complex AI engineering challenges, guiding architecture decisions, reviewing solution designs and influencing implementation approaches across multiple teams. Working closely with senior business, design and technology leaders, you'll translate strategic priorities into an ambitious Conversational AI roadmap, demonstrating the art of the possible and helping shape the next generation of customer experiences. A key part of the role will be building capability and creating an environment where talented engineers can thrive. You'll coach and develop a high-performing team of AI Engineers, bringing together expertise in engineering, data science and architecture to solve complex problems at scale. You'll also lead the development of reusable AI capabilities and platforms that can be leveraged across the Group, maximising value and accelerating innovation. Through applied research, experimentation and prototyping, you'll evaluate new technologies, identify high-potential use cases and help ensure the organisation remains at the leading edge of Conversational AI innovation, At Lloyds Banking Group, we're driven by a clear purpose; to help Britain prosper. Across the Group, our colleagues are focused on making a difference to customers, businesses and communities. With us you'll have a key role to play in shaping the financial services of the future, whilst the scale and reach of our Group means you'll have many opportunities to learn, grow and develop. We keep your data safe. So, we'll only ever ask you to provide confidential or sensitive information once you have formally been invited along to an interview or accepted a verbal offer to join us which is when we run our background checks. We'll always explain what we need and why, with any request coming from a trusted Lloyds Banking Group person. We're focused on creating a values-led culture and are committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the customers and communities we serve. Together we're building a truly inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference.

We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer Initiative. We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. And, as a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role with a disability, long-term health or neurodivergent condition through the Disability Confident Scheme. We provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to reduce or remove barriers. Just let us know what you need.

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies