Principal Forward Deployed Engineer

Janus Henderson; City of Westminster; Hybrid; GBP 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Health and Wellbeing benefits

Lunch allowance

Paid volunteer time

Tuition reimbursement

Parental leave

Job summary

Janus Henderson is seeking a senior engineering leader to line-manage Forward Deployed Engineers and own the team’s deliverables. You will design and build high-complexity AI solutions, own architecture, and drive an AI technology roadmap aligned with enterprise goals.

You will collaborate with business stakeholders, ensure governance, and mentor engineers as the team grows, balancing hands-on delivery with leadership responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Eight+ years in technical, business-facing engineering roles.
• Experience leading engineers as line manager, tech lead, or founder.
• Strong Python and SQL with hands-on delivery of production apps.
• Production experience with LLMs, including agent development and deployment at scale.
• Experience building data pipelines from APIs and enterprise systems, cloud knowledge (Azure).
• Ability to own a technical roadmap and defend recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder skills and ability to influence without direct authority.
• High agency with interest in moving from building to leading as team grows.
• Experience in regulated environments with governance and data sensitivity.

Responsibilities

• Lead Forward Deployed Engineers, including hiring, onboarding, objectives, and performance.
• Own team deliverables, manage commitments, and ensure delivery quality on schedule.
• Allocate people and effort across the demand pipeline and set expectations.
• Maintain engineering bar through design/code reviews and mentoring.
• Report progress, risk, and capacity to Head of AI Technology and stakeholders.
• Design, build, and productionise high-complexity AI solutions.
• Own architecture decisions, focusing on security, scalability, and governance.
• Develop AI technology roadmap aligned to enterprise strategy and governance.

Skills

Python

SQL

LLMs

Data pipelines

Cloud (Azure)

CI/CD

Containers

Infrastructure as code

Stakeholder management

Delivery leadership

Tools

Snowflake

Microsoft Fabric / OneLake

Azure AI Foundry

Model gateways

AI observability

MCP servers

Job description

Lead the team and own its deliverables

Line-management

• Line-manage Forward Deployed Engineers as the team grows: hiring, onboarding, objectives, development, and performance.
• Own the team's deliverables and outputs - what is committed, what is delivered, to what standard, and by when.
• Allocate people and effort across the demand pipeline, and be the person who says no, not yet, or not like that.
• Hold the engineering bar through design and code review, and grow engineers into owning engagements themselves.
• Report progress, risk, and capacity to the Head of AI Technology and to business stakeholders honestly, including when delivery is off track.

Build and deliver, hands on

• Design, build, and productionise bespoke, higher-complexity AI solutions yourself, taking the hardest and least-defined engagements personally.
• Own the architecture and design decisions for the team's solutions, keeping them secure, scalable, and aligned to the enterprise core stack.
• Take solutions through evaluation, observability, and our AI governance checkpoints, and keep them healthy afterwards.

Own the roadmap and the technology choices

• Form part of the AI Technical Leadership Team, and build an AI Technology roadmap that lines up with the JHI strategic roadmap.
• Work across the AI technology remits - AI Platforms, AI Architecture, AI Engineering, and AI Governance Implementation - owning the Forward Deployed Engineering deliverables and keeping them aligned to enterprise architecture.
• Contribute to AI technology strategy, standards, and buy-versus-build, and to the investment recommendations and backlog that follow.
• Review new models, tools, and vendors and determine their feasibility here, weighing cost, licensing, security, supportability, and vendor viability alongside capability, and documenting the recommendation - including the recommendation not to adopt.

Embed with the business and build investment capability

• Sit with business users and hold the relationship senior enough that the team is invited into problems early rather than handed finished requirements.
• Partner with the AI Enablement Partners on escalated demand, and set realistic expectations with senior stakeholders.
• Build advanced investment capability on Nexus, our agentic workspace, taking models and signals from one desk into a supported, firm-wide capability, and lead the build-out of citizen developer workflows through to production.
• Expose data and capability through Accio, our centralised MCP server, and as skills, tools, and connectors on Nexus, building reusable components rather than one-off integrations.
• Co-build enterprise core-stack deliverables with Percepta and AI Engineering, and represent Forward Deployed Engineering in architecture and design authority forums.

Experience & Qualifications

• At minimum eight years in technical, business-facing engineering roles - forward deployed engineering, solutions engineering, consulting-side software engineering, or engineering embedded in a business unit - including time as the most senior engineer on the work. Former technical founders are encouraged to apply.
• Experience leading engineers as a line manager, tech lead, or founder. You need not have run a large team, but you must have been accountable for other people's delivery.
• Strong Python and SQL, and a track record of shipping production applications, with hands-on delivery recent enough to still be real.
• Production experience with LLMs - prompt and context engineering, agent development, evaluation, deployment at scale - including agentic capability such as MCP servers, tools, or connectors.
• Experience building data pipelines from APIs and enterprise systems, and working knowledge of a major cloud, ideally Azure, with CI/CD, containers, and infrastructure as code.
• Experience owning a technical roadmap, and judgement on technology selection - you can evaluate a new tool, model, or vendor, test it properly, and defend the recommendation.
• Excellent stakeholder skills, credibility with senior audiences, and the ability to influence without direct authority.
• High agency, genuine interest in the business problem, and willingness to move from building towards leading as the team grows.
• Experience in a regulated environment where governance, compliance, and data sensitivity shape how solutions are built.

Nice to have skills

• Experience standing up a new engineering team or function from scratch, including hiring and defining how it works.
• Asset management or financial services domain knowledge, particularly the investment process, front office workflows, or fixed income.
• Quantitative investment concepts such as fair value, relative value, signal generation, or portfolio construction.
• Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric / OneLake, Azure AI Foundry, model gateways, or AI observability in production.
• Vendor selection, commercial negotiation, or licensing at enterprise scale, or contributing to architecture and technology governance forums.

Annual Bonus Opportunity

Position may be eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus award from the profit pool. The profit pool is funded based on Company profits. Individual bonuses are determined based on Company, department, team and individual performance.

Our Mission at Janus Henderson

Janus Henderson is more than a job, it's about investing in a brighter future together. Our Mission at Janus Henderson is to help clients define and achieve superior financial outcomes through differentiated insights, disciplined investments, and world-class service. We will do this by protecting and growing our core business, amplifying our strengths and diversifying where we have the right. Our Values are key to driving our success, and are at the heart of everything we do: Clients Come First - Always | Execution Supersedes Intention | Together We Win | Diversity Improves Results | Truth Builds Trust.

Potential for growth

• Mentoring
• Leadership development programs
• Regular training
• Career development services
• Continuing education courses

Supervisory responsibilities

Yes. This role line-manages Forward Deployed Engineers. There may be no direct reports on day one; the team is expected to be built out under this role, with line-management responsibility growing accordingly. Until then it carries technical leadership and delivery accountability for Forward Deployed Engineering.

Company policy and inclusivity

At Janus Henderson Investors we're committed to an inclusive and supportive environment. We believe diversity improves results and we welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds. Don't worry if you don't think you tick every box, we still want to hear from you! We understand everyone has different commitments and while we can't accommodate every flexible working request, we're happy to be asked about work flexibility and our hybrid working environment.

Equal opportunity

Janus Henderson Investors is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status. All applications are subject to background checks.

Regulatory compliance

Janus Henderson (including its subsidiaries) will not maintain existing or sponsor new industry registrations or licenses where not supported by an employee’s job functions (as determined by Janus Henderson at its sole discretion). You should be willing to adhere to the provisions of our Investment Advisory Code of Ethics related to personal securities activities and other disclosure and certification requirements, including past political contributions and political activities. Applicants’ past political contributions or activity may impact applicants’ eligibility for this position. You will be expected to understand the regulatory obligations of the firm, and abide by the regulated entity requirements and JHI policies applicable for your role.

Additional benefits excerpt

• Hybrid working and reasonable accommodations
• Generous Holiday policies
• Excellent Health and Wellbeing benefits including corporate membership to Wellhub
• Paid volunteer time to step away from your desk and into the community
• Support to grow through professional development courses, tuition/qualification reimbursement and more
• Maternal/paternal leave benefits and family services
• All employee events including networking opportunities and social activities
• Lunch allowance for use within our subsidized onsite canteen