Lead Engineer

Yolk Recruitment Ltd; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Yolk Recruitment Ltd is seeking a Divisional Lead Engineer (Digital & AI) to join an international organisation at the start of its AI engineering journey. You’ll stay hands-on while guiding technical direction and governance across global teams, building AI-enabled applications and automation.

You will lead design and delivery of AI-powered solutions using LLMs, AI agents and RAG architectures, partnering with infrastructure and cloud teams to scale responsibly.

Qualifications

• Extensive software engineering background with leadership experience.
• Previous roles as Technical Lead, Lead Engineer or Principal Engineer.
• Experience with React/Next.js/Node.js and modern frameworks.
• Experience building AI-enabled applications or automation solutions.
• Knowledge of LLMs, AI agents or RAG architectures.
• Strong understanding of software architecture and engineering best practice.
• Experience mentoring engineers and guiding technical direction.
• Excellent communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical direction of a new Digital & AI capability.
• Design, develop and deliver AI-powered applications and automation solutions.
• Build and integrate solutions using LLMs, AI agents and RAG architectures.
• Define development standards, engineering frameworks and best practices.
• Provide technical governance to support safe and scalable AI adoption.
• Mentor developers and support citizen developers across the business.
• Work across React, Next.js, Node.js and AWS.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, cloud and wider technology teams.
• Shape long-term AI strategy and implementation across an international organisation.
• Balance hands-on engineering with technical leadership and stakeholder engagement.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Tech direction

AI applications

LLMs / AI agents / RAG

Software architecture

Mentoring engineers

Stakeholder comms

Hands-on coding

Tools

React

Next.js

Node.js

AWS

Job description

Divisional Lead Engineer (Digital & AI)

A rare opportunity to join an international organisation at the start of its Digital & AI engineering journey.

This business is already actively exploring AI across multiple countries, with teams building applications, automations and new solutions to solve real business problems. The next step is creating the technical foundations, governance and engineering capability that will allow those initiatives to scale.

As the first dedicated hire in this area, you'll have genuine influence over how AI solutions are designed, built and deployed across the organisation.

This isn't a pure management role. You'll remain hands-on, helping to build solutions whilst leading technical direction, establishing best practice and mentoring others.

What You'll Do:

• Lead the technical direction of a new Digital & AI capability
• Design, develop and deliver AI-powered applications and automation solutions
• Build and integrate solutions using LLMs, AI agents and RAG architectures
• Define development standards, engineering frameworks and best practices
• Provide technical governance to support safe and scalable AI adoption
• Mentor developers and support technically focused citizen developers across the business
• Work across modern technologies including React, Next.js, Node.js and AWS
• Collaborate with infrastructure, cloud and wider technology teams
• Help shape long-term AI strategy and implementation across an international organisation
• Balance hands-on engineering with technical leadership and stakeholder engagement

What You'll Bring:

• Strong software engineering background with experience leading technical projects
• Previous experience as a Technical Lead, Lead Engineer, Principal Engineer or similar
• Experience with React, Node.js, Next.js or similar frameworks
• Experience building AI-enabled applications or automation solutions
• Knowledge of LLMs, prompt engineering, AI agents or RAG architectures
• Strong understanding of software architecture and engineering best practice
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction
• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Why You Should Apply:

• Founding role within a growing AI Engineering function
• Opportunity to build something from the ground up
• Influence technology choices, standards and ways of working
• Greenfield AI projects with strong executive support
• International scope across multiple regions and business units
• Modern technology environmentBlend of hands‑on development and technical leadership
• Clear progression and long-term growth opportunities
• Hybrid working with a Cardiff-based team

Note: We do our best to respond to every application, but due to volume, we can’t always guarantee it. If you haven’t heard back within 7 days, unfortunately, you haven’t been successful this time. Keep an eye on our site for new opportunities!