Head of AI Infrastructure & MLOps

Syngenta Group; Bracknell; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension scheme

Bonus scheme

Private medical & life insurance

Job summary

Syngenta Crop Protection is seeking a senior AI infrastructure lead to drive scalable AI platforms. You will oversee MLOps, model serving, vector databases, and HPC/GPU scheduling while ensuring responsible AI practices across distributed teams.

Collaborate with engineering, product, and scientific groups to translate needs into practical AI-enabled solutions, shaping roadmaps and governance across a global R&D ecosystem. This role is on-site at Jealott's Hill near Bracknell, UK.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in AI infrastructure and MLOps.
• Demonstrated experience in model serving and inference optimisation.
• Demonstrated experience in vector databases and LLM-adjacent tooling.
• Demonstrated experience in scientific HPC and GPU scheduling literacy.
• Demonstrated experience in AI safety, evaluation and guardrails.
• Demonstrated experience in engineering leadership of specialists.
• Proven ability to develop and communicate strategic technical roadmaps.
• Strong stakeholder management across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience establishing performance metrics, monitoring frameworks and evaluation criteria for infrastructure investments.
• Demonstrated capability in building, mentoring and developing high-performing technical teams.
• Experience conducting proof-of-concept initiatives and evaluating emerging technologies.
• Knowledge of responsible AI principles, including bias detection, governance.

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 the 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 compliance with organisational governance standards.

Skills

AI infrastructure

MLOps

Model serving

Vector databases

LLM tooling

HPC scheduling

GPU scheduling

AI safety

Engineering leadership

Roadmaps

Stakeholder mgmt

Proof-of-concept

Responsible AI

English fluency

Communication skills

Job description

Syngenta Crop Protection is seeking a senior AI infrastructure lead to drive scalable AI platforms. You will oversee MLOps, model serving, vector databases, and HPC/GPU scheduling while ensuring responsible AI practices across distributed teams.

Collaborate with engineering, product, and scientific groups to translate needs into practical AI-enabled solutions, shaping roadmaps and governance across a global R&D ecosystem. This role is on-site at Jealott's Hill near Bracknell, UK.