Founding AI Engineer

Hike; Greater London; Sur place; GBP 140 000 - 190 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Equity for early employee

Workplace pension contributions

London office access

Résumé du poste

Hike, a London-based AI translation startup, is seeking a founding-level senior engineer to steer the AI direction and model architecture. You’ll own long-term technical bets that determine how the product thinks, learns, and scales.

You’ll sit on the senior leadership committee alongside the CEO and Heads of Engineering and Product, shaping real-time translation capabilities and high-impact decisions in a fast-moving, ambitious team.

Qualifications

• Deep hands-on experience building and shipping AI models, not just fine-tuning.
• Experience solving hard problems: real-time processing, speech, translation, or low-latency inference.
• Background from DeepMind, top research labs, or early-stage AI teams with high standards.
• Curious, sharp, and energized by unsolved problems; trusted with decisions that are hard to reverse.
• Capable of independent senior work while staying aligned with a small, fast-moving team.

Responsabilités

• Own the AI direction, model architecture, and long-term technical bets for the product.
• Collaborate with CEO, Head of Engineering, Head of Product, GTM and Chief of Staff.
• Lead development as a founding-level role, shaping how the product thinks, learns and scales.
• Build and scale real-time translation capabilities across languages.

Connaissances

Hands-on AI development

Real-time / low-latency inference

High-caliber research background

Independent senior contributor

Clear communicator & trusted decision‑

Description du poste

Hike is representing a client building technology that helps people have natural conversations across languages.

They're a small, well funded team tackling a difficult problem: making live translation work in everyday conversations. This is an opportunity to join early and help build the business behind the technology.

You'll be part of our senior leadership committee - sitting alongside the CEO, Head of Engineering, Head of Product, Head of GTM and Chief of Staff. You own the AI direction, the model architecture, and the long-term technical bets made on how this product thinks, learns and scales.

This is a founding-level role in everything but title.

What we're looking for

• You have deep hands-on experience building and shipping AI models - not just fine-tuning, but understanding what's under the hood
• You've worked on problems that are genuinely hard - real-time processing, speech, translation, or low-latency inference would be a strong signal
• You're the kind of engineer who came up through places like DeepMind, top research labs, or early-stage AI teams where the bar was exceptionally high
• You're curious, sharp and energised by unsolved problems rather than comfortable ones
• You're someone people trust with decisions that are hard to reverse - you think carefully, communicate clearly, and don't cut corners on what matters
• You can work independently at a senior level while staying closely aligned with a small, fast-moving team

Compensation

• Salary:a competitive salary, benchmarked to the role and your experience. We're happy to discuss specifics early on.
• Equity:meaningful equity as an early employee.
• Pension:workplace pension with employer contributions.

What you'll get

• Recognition and rewards for great work.
• All the boring stuff everywhere else provides - 25 days off, pension, the lot.
• Amazing London offices: two spaces, one floor, 360 degrees across London. One side is built for collaboration and energy (small talk encouraged). The other is quiet, calm - a low-distraction focus space, always there when you need it.
• A fully stocked fridge, a proper lounge, and a team that genuinely likes spending time together. Food is taken seriously here.
• You shape your own environment. Lighting, a desk away from the noise, headphones, a setup that works for you. Just ask.
• Flexible hours around a small set of shared core hours, plus focus time we actually protect, so you can work when you think best.
• Ownership and autonomy. If you want to deploy a solution, you don't need five meetings. You just do it.
• A clear first-month plan and someone you can ask anything, so you're never left guessing what's expected.
• A team that takes the mission seriously, but not itself - we love socials, passion, and building something we believe in.
• Benefits are still being shaped - tell us what would make a real difference to your quality of life, and we'll consider it. We mean that.

Hike. We see the possibility in people.