Lead AI Engineer - E3

Virgin Money UK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday pro rata

Private medical insurance

Pension

Annual performance-related bonus

Training and development

Salary sacrifice benefits

Life assurance

Wellhub access

Volunteering

Job summary

Nationwide is seeking a Lead AI Engineer to shape enterprise AI across Customer Operations. You will provide technical leadership, design architecture and guardrails, and deliver AI products using Azure Foundry, OpenAI, Claude and open‑source models.

You’ll lead a blended team of AI engineers and vendor partners, drive AI governance, LLMOps, and secure, scalable solutions while collaborating with architecture, security and risk teams to accelerate adoption and value.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and delivering AI solutions at enterprise scale.
• Ability to establish AI guardrails, governance and risk controls.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for AI initiatives across Customer Operations.
• Shape enterprise AI architecture, standards and governance.
• Lead a blended team of AI engineers and vendor partners.
• Drive delivery while establishing best practices for AI engineering, LLMOps, security and Responsible AI.

Skills

AI Platform Leadership

Engineering Leadership

Enterprise AI Governance

Agentic AI

Vector Platforms

AI Platform Engineering & DevOps

AI Leadership & Strategy

Stakeholder Leadership

Tools

Azure AI Foundry

Azure OpenAI

OpenAI

Azure AI Search

Claude

LLMs

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Keras

Scikit-learn

OpenRAG

OmniVec

Llama

Cosmos DB

Job description

Join us as a Lead AI Engineer and play a key role in shaping the future of AI across Customer Operations. We're looking for a technical leader who enjoys solving complex challenges, building innovative AI products and helping teams perform at their best.

You'll work hands‑on with the latest AI technologies to design and deploy enterprise‑scale solutions, while defining the architecture, standards and guardrails that enable AI to be adopted safely, securely and effectively across the organisation. From influencing strategy and leading engineering teams to delivering cutting‑edge AI capabilities, you'll help unlock the full potential of AI for our customers, colleagues and business.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, based at either our London, Swindon or Northampton office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.

What you'll be doing

You’ll provide technical leadership for AI initiatives across Customer Operations, shaping enterprise AI architecture, standards and governance while building innovative AI solutions that deliver business value. Working hands‑on with Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Claude and open‑source large language models, you’ll design and deploy enterprise‑scale AI products using agentic AI, RAG, vector search and machine learning technologies. You’ll lead a blended team of AI engineers and vendor partners, driving delivery while establishing best practices for AI engineering, LLMOps, security and Responsible AI.

Working closely with architecture, security, risk and business stakeholders, you’ll influence AI strategy, accelerate adoption and ensure solutions are delivered safely, securely and at scale. This is a hands‑on leadership role, combining technical expertise with the ability to guide teams, shape standards and unlock the value of AI across the organisation.

About you

As a minimum, we are looking for:

• AI & GenAI Platform Leadership - Excellent experience designing and delivering AI solutions using Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Claude and open‑source LLMs, driving adoption across enterprise platforms.
• Engineering Leadership & Delivery - Deep software engineering expertise, strong Python skills, and hands‑on delivery of AI/ML solutions using OpenRAG, OmniVec, Llama, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras and Scikit‑learn.
• Enterprise AI Governance & LLMOps - Experience establishing AI guardrails, model governance, AI evaluation frameworks, observability, monitoring, security controls, prompt engineering, Responsible AI and LLMOps practices.
• Agentic AI, Vector Platforms & Architecture - Hands‑on experience implementing multi‑agent AI systems, RAG platforms, vector databases (Cosmos DB), semantic search, embeddings and enterprise AI architecture patterns.
• AI Platform Engineering & DevOps Leadership - Experience defining and implementing CI/CD standards for AI solutions, deploying to Azure AI Foundry using GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps, and establishing best practices for secure, scalable and reliable AI platforms.
• AI Leadership & Strategy - Experience leading AI products, programmes, or workstreams, with knowledge in reasoning models, multimodal AI, AI orchestration platforms, AI‑assisted development (vibe coding), and defining enterprise AI standards, patterns, and operating models.
• Stakeholder Leadership & Communication - Effective communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with experience working across architecture, security, risk and business teams to deliver AI solutions safely and at scale. Comfortable operating at both strategic and hands‑on levels (approximately 70% hands‑on, 30% leadership).

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers' shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think - we're honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don't settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you'll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 25 days holiday, pro rata
• Private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance‑related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death
• Wellhub - access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking - but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don't see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you're inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you're one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard‑setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are purpose‑driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

Disability Confident

We're not just guided by data, we're driven by the real experiences of our people. We're a Disability Confident Level 3 Leader, the highest level.

That's why we're constantly evolving our policies and practices to make sure everyone feels genuinely supported, valued, and empowered to champion inclusion. Whatever your needs, we're here to support you.

Apply safely with Nationwide

Please note that should you be successful in securing this role, the job title on our internal systems will be EN03 - Engineer E3.