Lead Engineer

Yolk Recruitment Ltd; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Yolk Recruitment is seeking a Divisional Lead Engineer (Digital & AI) for an international organisation embarking on an AI engineering journey. This hands-on role focuses on building AI-enabled applications, automations and governance across countries.

You will influence technical direction, mentor engineers and stay close to code, working with React, Next.js, Node.js and AWS while shaping AI strategy at scale.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience building AI-enabled applications, features or products.
• Experience integrating LLMs or AI services into applications.
• Understanding of LLM APIs, orchestration, agents, RAG, guardrails and observability.
• AWS experience, ideally including Bedrock.
• Experience with Node.js, React, Next.js or comparable technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and deliver AI-powered applications and automation solutions.
• Integrate LLMs and AI services into real-world applications.
• Work with AI agents, RAG architectures and orchestration.
• Help define the technical direction of a new Digital & AI capability.
• Build the controls, observability and governance needed to use AI safely at scale.
• Define development standards, engineering frameworks and best practice.
• Mentor developers and provide technical guidance across the business.
• Work across technologies including React, Next.js, Node.js and AWS.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, cloud and wider technology teams.
• Stay hands-on whilst helping shape the organisation's longer-term approach to AI.

Skills

Strong software engineering

Hands-on AI engineering

AI integration experience

LLM APIs & orchestration

AWS experience

Effective communication

Mentoring engineers

Tools

AWS

Amazon Bedrock

Node.js

React

Next.js

Job description

Divisional Lead Engineer (Digital & AI)

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

The business is already exploring AI across multiple countries, with teams building applications, automations and new solutions to solve real business problems. The next step is building the technical foundations, governance and engineering capability to take that further.

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.

The key thing is that this is a hands‑on engineering role.

They need someone who has personally built AI into applications or products, understands how those solutions work beyond the development environment, and enjoys experimenting with new technologies as they emerge.

You don't need to be managing a large engineering team already. This could suit a Senior, Lead or Principal Engineer who mentors others and influences technical direction but still wants to be close to the technology.

What You'll Do:

• Design, build and deliver AI-powered applications and automation solutions
• Integrate LLMs and AI services into real-world applications
• Work with AI agents, RAG architectures and orchestration
• Help define the technical direction of a new Digital & AI capability
• Build the controls, observability and governance needed to use AI safely at scale
• Define development standards, engineering frameworks and best practice
• Mentor developers and provide technical guidance across the business
• Work across technologies including React, Next.js, Node.js and AWS
• Collaborate with infrastructure, cloud and wider technology teams
• Stay hands‑on whilst helping shape the organisation's longer‑term approach to AI

What You'll Bring:

• Strong software engineering fundamentals
• Practical experience personally building AI-enabled applications, features or products
• Experience integrating LLMs or AI services into applications, rather than solely using AI as a development tool
• Understanding of areas such as LLM APIs, orchestration, agents, RAG, guardrails and observability
• AWS experience, ideally including exposure to Amazon Bedrock
• Experience with Node.js, React, Next.js or comparable technologies
• Strong understanding of software architecture and engineering best practice
• Experience mentoring engineers or influencing technical direction
• Genuine interest in emerging AI technologies and a willingness to experiment with new models, tools and approaches
• Ability to communicate technical ideas clearly to non-technical stakeholders

You Don't Need:

• A Head of AI title
• Experience managing a large engineering team
• To have spent years in formal people management

What's more important is that you're technically strong, curious about where AI engineering is heading and can demonstrate things you've actually built.

Why You Should Apply:

• Founding role within a growing AI Engineering function
• Opportunity to build something from the ground up
• Remain genuinely hands‑on with AI and software engineering
• Influence technology choices, standards and ways of working
• Greenfield AI projects with strong organisational backing
• International scope across multiple regions and business units
• Opportunity to grow into a broader technical leadership position

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!