Machine Learning Engineer

Digital Waffle; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Waffle in London is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to build and scale an autonomous AI platform for service businesses. The role offers broad ownership across product, architecture and delivery, with direct customer interaction and ownership of critical features.

The ideal candidate has 5–10 years in full-stack or backend roles, strong Python/TypeScript experience, and a background in AI-enabled systems. This is a hands-on senior role in a fast-growing startup.

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in full-stack or backend-focused software engineering.
• Strong commercial experience with Python and TypeScript; async is a plus.
• Experience building and scaling production AI products or integrating AI/ML capabilities.
• Backend design and scalable services and APIs.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and distributed systems.
• Understanding of event-driven and asynchronous architectures.
• Experience with Kubernetes and modern containerised environments.
• Strong product mindset and ability to work directly with customers.
• High ownership and ability to thrive in a fast-moving startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship core product features across Python, TypeScript and cloud infrastructure.
• Own features end to end from requirements to production delivery.
• Work directly with customers to scope technical solutions and translate problems into features.
• Build scalable, event-driven backend systems and integrations with third-party platforms.
• Develop and improve AI-powered workflows, including voice and conversational AI capabilities.
• Make pragmatic engineering decisions balancing MVP speed and scalable foundations.
• Contribute to cloud architecture, infrastructure and deployment patterns.
• Set high standards around testing, documentation, security, reliability and quality.
• Mentor other engineers and influence technical direction as the team grows.

Skills

5-10 years experience

Python

TypeScript

Async (AsyncOpenAI)

Cloud infrastructure

Kubernetes

Event-driven architecture

APIs design

Product mindset

Customer facing

Tools

Kubernetes

Serverless

CI/CD

Job description

A fast-growing AI startup is hiring an experienced Software Engineer to help build and scale an autonomous AI platform used by service businesses to manage customer interactions and operations.

This is a senior, hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys building from the ground up, solving complex technical problems and working directly with customers. You’ll have broad ownership across product, architecture and delivery, with the opportunity to shape both the technology and engineering culture as the business scales.

Role: Staff Software Engineer

What you'll be doing

• Build and ship core product features across Python, TypeScript and cloud infrastructure.
• Own features end to end, from understanding customer requirements through to production delivery.
• Work directly with customers to scope technical solutions and translate operational problems into product features.
• Build scalable, event-driven backend systems and integrations with third-party platforms.
• Develop and improve AI-powered workflows, including voice and conversational AI capabilities.
• Make pragmatic engineering decisions, knowing when to move quickly with an MVP and when to invest in scalable foundations.
• Contribute to cloud architecture, infrastructure and deployment patterns across the platform.
• Set high standards around testing, documentation, security, reliability and engineering quality.
• Help mentor other engineers and influence technical direction as the team grows.

What you'll need

• 5 to 10 years' experience across full stack or backend-focused software engineering.
• Strong commercial experience with Python and TypeScript - ideally Async (AsyncOpenAI)
• Experience building and scaling production AI products or integrating AI/ML capabilities into software.
• Strong backend engineering skills with experience designing scalable services and APIs.
• Experience working with cloud infrastructure and modern distributed systems.
• Understanding of event-driven architecture and asynchronous systems.
• Experience with Kubernetes, serverless infrastructure or modern containerised environments.
• Strong product mindset with the ability to work directly with customers and understand their operational challenges.
• High ownership mentality with the ability to thrive in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Comfortable working onsite in London five days per week.

Nice to have

• Experience working with voice AI or conversational platforms.
• Background as an early engineer within a high-growth startup.
• Experience building integrations with CRM, scheduling or operational software.

This role would suit a senior engineer who wants significant ownership, enjoys solving difficult product and infrastructure challenges, and wants to help shape a high-growth AI business from an early stage.