Lead AI Engineer: GenAI & MLOps Leader

Elanco Tiergesundheit AG; Hook; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Elanco is seeking a Lead Engineer to join the Enterprise AI engineering team in the UK, delivering secure, reliable GenAI solutions across the business. You will lead a skilled engineering group, shape the technical roadmap with Principal Engineers, and drive best practices for fast, safe experimentation while maintaining platform stability.

You will mentor engineers, oversee build-and-run operations, and provide hands-on guidance for AI-driven applications.

Qualifications

• Extensive Experience: Proven track record of leading the delivery and maintenance of complex software products in a DevOps and Agile environment.
• Deep practical experience with RAG, LLMs, and MLOps.
• Expert-level understanding of NLP, Embeddings, and Prompt Engineering.
• Expert proficiency in Python, React, and TypeScript.
• Significant experience with Cloud platforms (GCP or Azure) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).
• Experience designing and implementing data processing and document ingestion pipelines (e.g., Vertex AI, Google Cloud Fusion, or Azure Data Factory).
• Deep understanding of the SDLC, API-Centric Design, and Twelve-Factor App principles.
• Proven experience mentoring engineers and leading technical teams to success.
• Deep familiarity with authentication and authorisation protocols/patterns and secure-by-design principles.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a team of talented engineers, fostering a culture of psychological safety, curiosity, and creative problem-solving to drive continuous innovation.
• Partner with Principal Engineers to define and execute the strategic technical roadmap for our AI capabilities.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards, ensuring the platform remains stable, secure, and reliable while allowing for rapid experimentation.
• Drive technical excellence across the team by championing best practices in coding, architecture, and automated testing.
• Act as a technical consultant for product teams, helping them navigate complex integrations and architectural decisions.
• Champion the "value-first" mentality, ensuring the team’s efforts are always aligned with delivering tangible outcomes for Elanco’s customers.
• Oversee "build and run" responsibilities for Enterprise AI products, ensuring high availability and robust support through mature incident processes.
• Provide architectural oversight and hands‑on technical guidance for the development of AI‑driven applications.
• Lead Scrum ceremonies from a technical perspective, ensuring the team delivers high‑quality increments and meets sprint goals.
• Mentor and coach Senior and Software Engineers, as well as members of our student program, to cultivate a high‑performing and connected engineering organisation.
• Drive CI/CD maturity, continually modernising software development processes to ensure efficient and high‑quality delivery.
• Resolve complex technical barriers, providing sound and scalable solutions for the most challenging issues facing the team.

Skills

Python

React

TypeScript

LLMs

MLOps

Cloud (GCP/Azure)

Terraform

Data pipelines

Security

Tools

Vertex AI

Google Cloud Fusion

Azure Data Factory

Job description

Elanco is seeking a Lead Engineer to join the Enterprise AI engineering team in the UK, delivering secure, reliable GenAI solutions across the business. You will lead a skilled engineering group, shape the technical roadmap with Principal Engineers, and drive best practices for fast, safe experimentation while maintaining platform stability.

You will mentor engineers, oversee build-and-run operations, and provide hands-on guidance for AI-driven applications.