Director of AI Enablement & MLOps

Syngenta; Bracknell; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Holiday entitlement 31.5 days

Flexible working

Global team

Job summary

Syngenta is seeking a senior AI infrastructure lead at Jealott's Hill Research Centre near Bracknell to drive scalable AI capabilities for R&D and agricultural applications. You will oversee infrastructure, model serving and governance, partnering with science and product teams to translate complex needs into practical, responsible AI solutions.

You will build and mentor a high-performing team, set strategic roadmaps and establish robust metrics to measure impact of investments in AI enablement

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in AI infrastructure, MLOps and scalable AI deployments.
• Proven track record in model serving and inference optimization.
• Experience with vector databases and LLM-adjacent tooling.
• Strong background in HPC, GPU scheduling, and responsible AI practices.
• Leadership of specialist engineers and setting technical roadmaps.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management across technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead and apply deep expertise in AI infrastructure and MLOps to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in model serving and inference optimisation to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in vector databases and LLM-adjacent tooling to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in scientific HPC and GPU scheduling literacy to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in AI safety, evaluation and guardrails to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Lead and apply deep expertise in engineering leadership of specialists to deliver durable, scalable outcomes.
• Collaborate across engineering, product and scientific teams to translate complex needs into practical solutions.
• Set a high bar for quality, documentation and thoughtful use of AI-assisted engineering.
• Develop and communicate a strategic roadmap for AI enablement technologies that aligns with organisational objectives and scientific innovation goals.
• Establish performance metrics, monitoring frameworks and evaluation criteria to measure effectiveness and impact of AI infrastructure investments.
• Build and mentor a high-performing team of AI and ML specialists, fostering a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and tools, conducting proof-of-concept initiatives to assess suitability for R&D workflows and agricultural applications.
• Manage stakeholder relationships with scientific teams, product leaders and IT leadership to ensure alignment on priorities, resource allocation and capability delivery.
• Champion best practices in responsible AI deployment, including bias detection, model transparency and governance compliance.

Skills

AI infrastructure

MLOps

Model serving

Vector databases

LLM tooling

Scientific HPC

GPU scheduling

AI safety & governance

Engineering leadership

Roadmapping

Stakeholder management

Proof-of-concept

English fluency

Job description

Syngenta is seeking a senior AI infrastructure lead at Jealott's Hill Research Centre near Bracknell to drive scalable AI capabilities for R&D and agricultural applications. You will oversee infrastructure, model serving and governance, partnering with science and product teams to translate complex needs into practical, responsible AI solutions.

You will build and mentor a high-performing team, set strategic roadmaps and establish robust metrics to measure impact of investments in AI enablement