Head of AI Engineering & Architecture

Confidential; Greater London; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential is building the next generation AI-native platform for real estate, led from London with global operations. We seek a seasoned leader to own the end-to-end AI engineering architecture, drive multi-region deployment, and set governance and security standards for a fast-scaling venture.

You will hire and mentor teams, shape model strategy, ensure compliance with UK GDPR and cross-border data rules, and collaborate with executives to align architecture with business goals.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering with leadership experience.
• Proven delivery of production LLM/GenAI systems at scale.
• Deep architectural command of distributed systems, APIs and data platforms.
• Hands-on credibility in Python and at least one of TypeScript/Go/Java.
• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms and multi-region deployment.
• Working knowledge of data protection regimes (UK GDPR).
• Experience communicating technical trade-offs to boards and execs.

Responsibilities

• Define target-state architecture for multi-tenant SaaS platform with LLM layers.
• Lead and scale AI engineering team across London, Gulf and India.
• Shape model strategy, evaluation, RAG patterns and agent frameworks.
• Establish MLOps and LLMOps with CI/CD, observability and SLOs.
• Own cloud architecture and data residency design for cross-region workloads.
• Embed security and privacy by design for regulatory compliance (UK GDPR/Saudi PDPL).
• Institute AI governance with risk management and responsible-AI standards.
• Collaborate with product on roadmap feasibility and delivery status to executives.
• Manage vendor ecosystem for model providers, cloud, data and tooling.

Skills

LLM/GenAI systems

Engineering leadership

Distributed systems

Python

TypeScript/Go/Java

Cloud platforms

Security & compliance

Executive communication

Tools

AWS/Azure/GCP

Job description

We are building the next generation of AI-native platforms for real estate — spanning intelligent marketplaces, agentic transaction workflows and data-driven investment tooling — with engineering in London and operating businesses in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf. The Head of AI Engineering & Architecture owns the end-to-end technical architecture of the platform and leads the engineering organization that builds it. The role converts product and commercial ambition into a scalable, secure and compliant technology estate, and sets the engineering standards, tooling and culture for a fast-scaling AI venture.

Key Responsibilities

• Architecture — Define and own the target-state architecture across the platform: multi-tenant SaaS core, LLM and agentic orchestration layers, retrieval and vector infrastructure, data platform and APIs.
• Engineering leadership — Build, lead and scale the AI engineering function in London — hiring, organization design, performance management and succession — while coordinating with distributed development teams in the Gulf and India.
• AI/ML platform — Establish the model strategy: selection and evaluation of foundation models, fine-tuning and RAG patterns, agent frameworks, guardrails, evaluation harnesses and cost/latency optimization.
• MLOps & reliability — Stand up production-grade MLOps and LLMOps — CI/CD, observability, model monitoring, drift detection, prompt and version management — with clear SLOs for reliability and performance.
• Cloud & infrastructure — Own cloud architecture and infrastructure economics (AWS/Azure/GCP), including data residency design for Saudi-hosted workloads and multi-region deployment.
• Security & compliance — Embed security and privacy by design; ensure the platform meets UK GDPR and Saudi PDPL requirements and supports sector regulatory obligations (REGA/FAL, and SAMA where financial-services use cases apply), working with legal and compliance counterparts.
• AI governance — Institute AI governance: model risk management, human-in-the-loop controls, auditability, red-teaming and responsible-AI standards suitable for board and investor scrutiny.
• Stakeholder partnership — Partner with the Head of AI Product on roadmap feasibility, technical discovery and build/buy/partner decisions; present architecture and delivery status to the CTAIO, board and investors.
• Vendors & partnerships — Manage vendor and partner ecosystem — model providers, cloud, data and tooling — including commercial negotiation and technical due diligence.

Candidate Profile

• 10+ years in software engineering with 5+ years leading engineering or architecture teams, ideally including a scale-up or venture-built environment.
• Demonstrable delivery of production LLM/GenAI systems at scale — agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, evaluation and safety tooling — not solely proofs of concept.
• Deep architectural command of distributed systems, event-driven design, APIs, data platforms (streaming and warehouse/lakehouse) and modern DevSecOps.
• Hands‑on credibility in Python and at least one of TypeScript/Go/Java; strong grasp of vector databases, orchestration frameworks and inference optimization.
• Track record of hiring and developing high-performing engineering teams in London or a comparable talent market.
• Working knowledge of data-protection regimes (UK GDPR essential; Saudi PDPL desirable) and experience operating in regulated or multi-jurisdiction environments.
• Sector exposure to PropTech, marketplaces or fintech is an advantage.
• Executive-level communication — able to translate deep technical trade-offs for boards, investors and non-technical leadership.