Principal Data Scientist I - Agentic Systems

LexisNexis; Exeter; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A global information analytics provider is seeking a Principal Data Scientist specializing in agentic AI systems. In this hands-on role, you will design and optimize agentic systems, focusing on context engineering and LLMs to transform intellectual property applications. Ideal candidates should have a PhD in AI, strong programming skills in Python, and experience in an agile commercial setting. Join us to contribute to innovative solutions that make a measurable impact.

Benefits

Generous holiday allowance

Life assurance

Competitive pension scheme

Study assistance

Employee assistance programme

Employee discounts scheme

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience in LLMs or applied AI research in a commercial environment.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in an agile environment.
• Experience mentoring junior data scientists.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimise agentic systems for complex tasks.
• Innovate context engineering strategies to maximise LLM effectiveness.
• Select and fine-tune LLMs to meet agent objectives.
• Collaborate with teams to deliver production-ready solutions.

Skills

Context engineering

LLM fine-tuning

Python programming

Problem-solving

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Education

PhD in AI, Computer Science, Mathematics or related field

Tools

PyTorch

Job description

Principal Data Scientist I - Agentic Systems

Ready to pioneer agentic AI systems that will transform how the world discovers and protects intellectual property? Do you thrive in creating a collaborative and customer-focused work environment?

About Our Team

LexisNexis Intellectual Property, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,300 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About The Role

LexisNexis Intellectual Property Solutions is seeking a Principal Data Scientist specialising in Agentic Systems, with deep expertise in efficient context engineering, fine-tuning large language models (LLMs), and multi-agent workflows. This hands-on role focuses on pushing the boundaries of how intelligent systems plan, reason, and act in real-world intellectual property (IP) applications.

As part of our dynamic Data Science and AI Engineering community, you’ll have the opportunity to rotate across diverse problem domains, gaining broad expertise while delivering impact. You’ll partner closely with product managers and commercial teams to understand the workflows of IP professionals, and collaborate with engineers to prototype, evaluate, and optimise intelligent agents that drive measurable customer value.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimise agentic systems capable of breaking down complex tasks into executable steps.
• Innovate in context engineering strategies (retrieval-augmented generation, dynamic context construction, memory management) to maximise LLM effectiveness.
• Select, fine-tune, and adapt large language models (LLMs) to align with agent objectives.
• Enhance and extend evaluation frameworks for online and offline performance, efficiency, and success rates.
• Select, benchmark, and host LLMs on Amazon SageMaker or EKS, comparing and optimising models to ensure agentic systems are fast, accurate, and cost-effective.
• Own and prioritise a backlog of improvements to core intelligence, applying methods such as RLHF and self-learning agents.
• Collaborate with AI engineering and product teams to deliver production-ready solutions.
• Mentor and supervise junior data scientists and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• PhD in AI, Computer Science, Mathematics or a related field; or Master’s with equivalent experience.
• Hands-on experience in LLMs or applied AI research in a commercial environment.
• Proven expertise in context engineering, LLM fine-tuning, and evaluation of non-deterministic systems.
• Strong programming skills in Python and proficiency in deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch).
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with engineering and product stakeholders in an agile environment.

Why Join Us

Join our team and contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence. If you are ready to advance your career and make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Work in a way that works for you

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long-term goals.

• Working flexible hours - flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive.

Working for you

We know that your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. These are some of the benefits we are delighted to offer:

• Generous holiday allowance with the option to buy additional days.
• Life assurance
• Access to a competitive contributory pension scheme
• Save As You Earn share option scheme.
• Travel Season ticket loan
• Maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to emergency care for both the elderly and children
• RECARES days, giving you time to support the charities and causes that matter to you.
• Access to employee resource groups with dedicated time to volunteer.
• Access to extensive learning and development resources
• Access to the employee discounts scheme via Perks at Work

About The Business

At LexisNexis Intellectual Property (LNIP), we believe that whenever a person works on a patent and understands the future trajectory of a specific technology, that person has the potential to fundamentally change how society operates. We are proud to directly support and serve these innovators in their endeavours to better humankind. We enable innovators to accomplish more by helping them make informed decisions, be more productive, comply with regulations, and ultimately achieve superior results. By harnessing the latest advances in machine learning combined with expert analysis, LexisNexis Intellectual Property is disrupting how actionable insight is extracted from patent data. Information can now be accessed with efficiency, accuracy and at a speed that is just not possible by traditional methods. Our overall success is measured by how well we deliver these results.

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