Contract Lead Engineer

Future Talent Group; England; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech recruitment firm in London is looking for a Lead Engineer to design and build a first-of-its-kind adaptive intelligence platform. This greenfield project requires proficiency in distributed systems and at least one systems-level programming language. The ideal candidate will thrive on autonomy and early-stage decision-making, working closely with domain experts to deliver robust systems under demanding conditions.

Qualifications

• Proven experience designing and delivering complex distributed platforms or data pipelines.
• Proficiency in at least one systems-level language (Python, Rust, Go, or similar).
• A strong systems thinker who thrives on autonomy and early-stage decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement infrastructure for a high-performance, adaptive intelligence platform.
• Build real-time pipelines for ingesting and transforming multimodal data.
• Lead technical design while staying hands-on with code and delivery.

Skills

Distributed platforms design

Data pipelines experience

Systems-level language proficiency

Kubernetes familiarity

Autonomy in decision-making

Job description

5 days ago Be among the first 25 applicants

This range is provided by Future Talent Group. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

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The Role

This is a rare opportunity to design and build a first-of-its-kind adaptive intelligence platform for mission-critical environments. You’ll operate at the intersection of real-time data processing, multimodal ingestion, adaptive knowledge representation, and composable services—all built for cloud, edge, and on-prem deployment.

It’s a greenfield build with no legacy stack. You’ll own how the core components come together and make early, high-impact decisions that will shape the future of intelligence systems. If you thrive on autonomy, complexity, and building platforms that matter—this role is for you.

What you’ll do

• Architect and implement infrastructure for a high-performance, adaptive intelligence platform.
• Build real-time pipelines for ingesting and transforming multimodal data.
• Design adaptive knowledge representation and ontological reasoning systems.
• Develop composable services for deployment across cloud, edge, and on-prem.
• Collaborate with defence domain experts to ground systems in operational reality.
• Lead technical design while staying hands-on with code and delivery.
• Ensure systems are secure, reliable, and resilient under demanding conditions.

What we’re looking for

• Proven experience designing and delivering complex distributed platforms or data pipelines.
• Proficiency in at least one systems-level language (Python, Rust, Go, or similar).
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, edge compute, and air-gapped deployments.
• A strong systems thinker who thrives on autonomy and early-stage decision-making.
• A collaborative engineer with a pragmatic, growth-oriented mindset.

Apply now and own the future of mission systems.

Seniority level

• Not Applicable

Employment type

• Contract

Job function

• Information Technology

Industries

• Staffing and Recruiting
• Defense and Space Manufacturing
• Data Infrastructure and Analytics

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London, England, United Kingdom

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