Lead Engineer (Digital/AI)

Yolk Recruitment; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Yolk Recruitment in Cardiff is seeking a Divisional Lead Engineer (Digital & AI) to shape the early AI engineering journey for an international organisation. The role blends hands-on development with technical leadership across AI-powered applications, LLMs, and automation, with hybrid work and a £70,000–£80,000 salary plus benefits.

You'll guide design standards, governance, and best practices, mentor engineers, and collaborate with cross-functional teams using React, Next.js, Node.js, and AWS

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering background with experience leading technical projects.
• Experience as a Technical Lead, Lead Engineer, Principal Engineer or similar.
• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to mentor engineers and influence technical direction.
• Hands-on in AI-enabled applications and automation, with modern web tech.

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 with 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

Software engineering leadership

JavaScript/TypeScript

AI-enabled applications

Mentoring engineers

Excellent communication

Tools

React

Node.js

Next.js

AWS

LLMs / AI agents / RAG

Job description

Divisional Lead Engineer (Digital & AI)

Cardiff / Hybrid (3 Days Per Week)

£70,000 - £80,000 + Benefits

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
• Strong knowledge of JavaScript / TypeScript and modern web technologies
• Experience with React, Node.js, Next.js or similar frameworks
• AWS cloud experience
• 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 environment
• Blend 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!