Principal AI Engineer & Systems Architect

Elsevier; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension plan

Generous vacation

Parental leave

Flexible hours

Employee discounts

Wellbeing program

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Principal Software Engineer / Principal AI Engineer to lead an embedded Innovation Squad, driving AI architecture from discovery to production. You will advance agentic AI patterns, coordinate with stakeholders, and mentor engineers to deliver reusable patterns and starter kits.

You will ensure security, data governance and residency standards while shaping infrastructure choices and deployment strategies for enterprise-scale AI initiatives.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering with hands-on AI system design, build or integration and a track record of taking AI prototypes to production in enterprise environments.
• BS in Engineering, Computer Science or equivalent; advanced degree preferred.
• Agentic AI / LLMs: orchestration, prompt engineering, context-window management and production guardrails; MCP, tool-augmented agents and RAG at enterprise scale.
• Enterprise integration: Integrating AI into enterprise systems via APIs and data pipelines, with strong security and data governance practices.
• Cloud: AWS, Azure or GCP, including managed AI/ML services.
• Delivery: Agile, CI/CD, modern SDLC and TDD.
• Data and architecture: Modelling across relational, columnar and vector stores, grounded in solid architectural principles.
• Ways of working: Manages ambiguity, frames problems, defines specs, ships validated outcomes.
• Languages: Python, Java, TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL and AI SDKs.
• Leadership and delivery management: Plans work, removes blockers, drives delivery.
• Communication and influence: Presents to senior management and cross-functional teams.
• Commercial awareness: Budget-aware; partners with internal/external resources.
• Measurement: Establishes baselines and tracks productivity, cost and quality from pilot to scale.

Responsibilities

• Own technical execution from discovery to production; build, assess and harden prototypes and proofs of concept.
• Design and govern reusable agentic AI patterns (orchestration, memory, retrieval).
• Ensure delivery meets architecture, security and data-governance standards; advise on infra and data residency.
• Codify validated solutions into patterns, reference implementations and starter kits for reuse.
• Provide design input, finalize requirements, and collaborate with stakeholders.
• Write specifications, fix complex bugs and design complex data models.
• Serve as primary technical contact for external resources and the squad's go-to on coding and AI.
• Establish baselines and report measurable outcomes for initiatives.
• Maintain visibility of in-flight AI pilots to prevent duplication and surface reuse candidates.
• Ensure alignment with security, compliance and central technology standards.
• Continuously evaluate emerging technologies and mentor team members.

Skills

Python

Java

TypeScript/JavaScript

SQL

LLM orchestration

APIs

Education

BS in Engineering/CS

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

CI/CD

TDD

Job description

Elsevier is seeking a Principal Software Engineer / Principal AI Engineer to lead an embedded Innovation Squad, driving AI architecture from discovery to production. You will advance agentic AI patterns, coordinate with stakeholders, and mentor engineers to deliver reusable patterns and starter kits.

You will ensure security, data governance and residency standards while shaping infrastructure choices and deployment strategies for enterprise-scale AI initiatives.