Principal Microsoft AI Consultant

SR2 | Socially Responsible Recruitment | Certified B Corporation™; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

SR2 | Socially Responsible Recruitment, partnering with a UK tech consultancy, seeks a Principal Microsoft AI Consultant to drive production AI from discovery through to secure, supported production. You will lead client workshops, design scalable AI systems, and mentor engineers across projects.

This hands-on, senior role covers architecture debates, security, budgeting and delivery to stakeholders, with UK remote work and occasional client travel.

Qualifications

• Production-grade AI deployments in Azure environments.
• Move AI from discovery to secure, maintainable production.
• Strong coding skills in Python, C#, .NET or TypeScript.
• Experience with RAG, vector search, agents and modern AI patterns.
• Ability to discuss architecture, security and cost with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI discovery workshops with clients and identify high-value use cases.
• Design and deliver production-grade AI solutions using Foundry/Azure AI.
• Build RAG solutions with Azure AI Search and enterprise data sources.
• Develop integration components in Python, C#, .NET or TypeScript.
• Mentor engineers and work directly with clients in delivery engagements.
• Establish repeatable Microsoft AI delivery approaches within six months.

Skills

Azure AI Foundry

Microsoft Foundry

Azure OpenAI

Python

C#

.NET

TypeScript

Azure AI Search

Tools

Azure AI Foundry

Azure OpenAI

Azure AI Search

Job description

SR2 is partnering with an exciting UK technology consultancy to hire a Principal Microsoft AI Consultant who can take enterprise AI solutions from discovery and prototype through to secure, supported production.

This is a hands-on senior role for someone who wants to build real AI solutions rather than remain focused on proofs of concept, presentation-led architecture or Copilot configuration. The consultancy works across technology consulting, digital transformation, cyber security, applications, data & AI, networking and infrastructure.

What you'll be doing

• Lead AI discovery workshops with clients, identifying high-value and technically viable use cases.
• Design and deliver production-grade generative AI and agentic solutions using Microsoft Foundry / Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI and Foundry Agent Service.
• Build RAG solutions using Azure AI Search and enterprise data sources.
• Work across model selection, prompt orchestration, grounding, memory, tool calling and agent workflows.
• Develop application and integration components using Python, C#, .NET or TypeScript.
• Integrate AI services with enterprise applications, APIs, data platforms and business workflows.
• Architect secure Azure environments using Entra ID, RBAC, managed identities, Key Vault, private networking and Azure Policy.
• Establish evaluation frameworks covering groundedness, relevance, safety, task completion, latency, cost and user outcomes.
• Implement monitoring, tracing, observability, CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code so solutions remain supportable after go-live.
• Contribute to pre-sales, demonstrations, technical proposals and reusable AI reference architectures.
• Mentor and support other engineers when needed.
• Work directly with clients while remaining highly hands-on technically.

What we're looking for

• Evidence of taking at least one substantial Microsoft Foundry, Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Studio or Azure OpenAI solution into production.
• Strong software engineering capability in Python, C#, .NET or TypeScript.
• Practical experience with RAG, vector search, agents, tool calling or modern generative AI patterns.
• Experience evaluating AI quality beyond manual demonstrations.
• Strong understanding of enterprise Azure architecture, security, identity, networking and operational support.
• Experience moving AI solutions from prototype into secure, maintainable production environments.
• Confidence discussing architecture, models, security, cost and data trade-offs with senior stakeholders.
• Consultancy, professional services or similarly demanding client-facing delivery experience.

Useful additional experience

• Semantic Kernel, Microsoft Agent Framework, LangChain or LangGraph.
• Microsoft Fabric or Databricks.
• Azure Container Apps, Functions, App Service or AKS.
• MLOps / LLMOps and production AI monitoring.
• Healthcare, public sector or other regulated environments.

The environment

• Join a consultancy of around 100 people, operating through a number of smaller specialist teams.
• UK remote working with occasional client-site travel around the UK - this is not expected to be frequent.
• Report directly to the COO, giving the role strong visibility and influence.
• Help shape technical standards, reusable accelerators and the organisation's wider Microsoft AI capability.
• Mentor other team members when required.
• Within six months, success means establishing a repeatable Microsoft AI delivery approach, leading a client engagement and delivering or materially progressing a secure production AI solution.
• 30-minute initial conversation with the COO / CTO