Principal AI Systems Engineer - Public Sector Impact

Scale AI; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Scale AI in London is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for the Global Public Sector to shape technical engagements with clients, define the technology stack, and rapidly turn ideas into working prototypes. This is a senior, hands-on role with mentoring responsibilities and close collaboration with leadership.

The role focuses on applying AI/ML in production, building scalable architectures, and delivering high-impact public sector solutions, with travel to client sites as engagements

Qualifications

• 5+ years applying AI/ML in production environments (generative/agentic AI, RAG, eval pipelines)
• Strong problem-solving from ambiguous problems to working prototypes
• Deep expertise in system design and cloud-based ML tools

Responsibilities

• Take on hardest technical problems across programs; step in when path forward is unclear
• Lead technical side of early engagements: scope problems, shape proofs of concept, keep scope lean
• Build working prototypes quickly: AI agents, evaluation pipelines, data/knowledge systems
• Define technology and architecture; keep solutions cohesive, secure, reusable across clients
• Mentor engineers across a young organization via pairing, reviews, and setting engineering standards
• Collaborate with Directors, VPs and client executives; travel to client sites as needed
• Contribute reusable patterns back to core platform to accelerate future engagements
• Lead from the front on agentic engineering and push AI boundaries

Skills

AI/ML in prod

System design & architecture

Mentoring engineers

Client engagement

Technical leadership

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS, Mathematics or related field

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Scale AI in London is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for the Global Public Sector to shape technical engagements with clients, define the technology stack, and rapidly turn ideas into working prototypes. This is a senior, hands-on role with mentoring responsibilities and close collaboration with leadership.

The role focuses on applying AI/ML in production, building scalable architectures, and delivering high-impact public sector solutions, with travel to client sites as engagements