Lead AI & Data Engineer

ZipRecruiter; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company seeks a Lead AI and Data Engineer in Edinburgh. You will shape the future of data platforms, create production-grade AI solutions, and foster best engineering practices. This role offers the opportunity to drive data-driven transformations within a collaborative and innovative team environment.

Benefits

Flexible working

Collaborative culture

Pathways for growth

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in data engineering and semantic models.
• Hands-on experience building data platforms on Azure.
• Proven leadership in modern engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and delivery of scalable data architectures and pipelines.
• Develop AI and data products aligned to business outcomes.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing engineering team.

Skills

Data engineering

Data pipelines

Semantic models

Programming in Python

Programming in SQL

Programming in YAML

CI/CD

Infrastructure-as-code

Tools

Microsoft Azure

Data Factory

Databricks

Terraform

Bicep

Job description

Job Description

Lead AI and Data Engineer (Edinburgh)

Our client is looking for a technical and strategic AI and Data Engineer to take ownership of AI and data engineering practices. You’ll play a central role in shaping modern data platforms, building production-grade AI solutions, and embedding best practices in data and AI engineering.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and delivery of scalable data architectures and pipelines to meet analytics and AI needs.
• Develop and maintain AI and data products aligned to business outcomes.
• Champion automation-first engineering practices across ingestion, transformation, and deployment.
• Design and deploy generative and predictive AI solutions using Azure and open-source frameworks.
• Implement modern DataOps and MLOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and monitoring.
• Establish and maintain reusable enterprise data models and semantic layers for self-service analytics.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing engineering team.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to embed insight and AI in product delivery and business decision-making.

About You:

• Deep expertise in data engineering, data pipelines, and semantic models.
• Hands-on experience building data platforms on Microsoft Azure (Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks, Purview).
• Skilled in deploying machine learning models and generative AI applications in production.
• Strong programming skills in Python, SQL, YAML.
• Experience with CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform/Bicep).
• Proven leadership in embedding modern engineering practices (DataOps, MLOps) within teams.
• Comfortable working in Agile development and structured deployment environments.
• Desirable experience with Azure OpenAI, LangChain, and graph/vector databases.

What’s on offer:

• Opportunity to lead the engineering backbone of a data-driven transformation.
• Work with forward-thinking teams in a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
• Flexible working, collaborative culture, and pathways for growth.

Apply here for more information and a full job spec.