Principle Tech Lead - AI Enablement

Ghyston; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension & profit share

Hybrid working hours

Generous holiday entitlement

Wellbeing support

EV scheme & cycle to work

Growth & development investment

Office with drinks & pool table

Job summary

Ghyston in Bristol is seeking a senior engineering leader to host consultative client engagements, evolve technical standards, and mentor Tech Leads. The role emphasizes advisory work, pre-sales credibility, and embedding AI into processes and ways of working.

You will mentor senior Tech Leads while Squad Leads handle day-to-day coordination, fostering growth across the group and ensuring capability remains strong beyond any one person.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in software engineering with leadership/architecture experience.
• Comfortable across modern architecture and DevOps.
• Experience driving AI adoption in how software is built.
• Ability to raise the bar by growing others and leading teams.
• Willingness to work across multiple clients and domains.

Responsibilities

• Lead senior, consultative client work: audits, foundation-setting and advisory engagements.
• Bring technical credibility to pre-sales from early conversations to bids and proposals.
• Evolve technical standards and embed AI tooling in development.
• Mentor senior Tech Leads and grow next layer of technical leadership.
• Build strong client relationships and manage expectations during engagements.
• Spot and close skills gaps across Tech Lead group, coaching them to raise the bar.

Skills

Software architecture

Technical leadership

AI adoption

Client advisory

DevOps

Job description

The role:

This role has three connected pillars: leading our most senior consultative client engagements, evolving our technical standards (including embedding AI into our thinking, processes and ways of working), and mentoring our Tech Leads alongside their Squad Leads.

Your client work is targeted and advisory rather than day-to-day delivery: technical audits, foundation-setting, and consultancy that draws on real depth of experience. You'll also contribute to pre-sales, where your technical credibility helps shape and win work.

You'll build on the strong technical practices we already have, evolving and embedding them further with the team, with AI tooling and best practice a key part of that. You'll also mentor our senior Tech Leads while their Squad Leads handle day-to-day coordination, sharing knowledge across the group so our capability keeps building.

What you'll do:

• Lead senior, consultative client work: technical audits, foundation-setting and advisory engagements that draw on real depth of experience
• Bring technical credibility to pre-sales, from early client conversations through to bids and proposals
• Evolve our technical standards and make AI tooling a core part of how we build
• Mentor our senior Tech Leads and grow the next layer of technical leadership, so our capability never rests on one person
• Build strong client relationships during consultative engagements, managing expectations and constructively challenging requirements where it helps
• Spot and close skills gaps across the Tech Lead group, coaching them to raise the technical bar together

How we work:

We're an in-person Bristol team at heart, and a lot of the good stuff happens in the office. But once you're settled, you can work from home around two days a week. We trust that people to do their best work in the way that suits them.

Why us:

We put real emphasis on employee happiness, and we're proud to have been recognised by Best Companies two years running, including as a top five small company to work for in the UK.

We're carbon neutral, committed to reducing our impact on the planet, and we work with local partners to help reduce inequalities in our community. We're not perfect, but we work hard to be excellent at what we do, and we want people who'll drive that excellence with us.

You should apply if:

• You've got 8+ years in software engineering, with several years at technical-leadership or architecture level, and a track record of leading complex client work
• You're comfortable across modern architecture, DevOps and more than one stack, and you pick the right tool rather than a favourite one
• You've actually driven AI adoption in how software gets built, not just kept an eye on it
• You raise the bar by growing the people around you, and you measure success by how strong the team is rather than how much only you can do
• You're happy moving across different clients and domains rather than settling into one codebase
• You're confident engaging clients directly on consultative work, and can flex between deep technical detail and business-level conversation

What's in it for you:

• An 8% non-contributory pension and profit share
• A flexible approach to hybrid working and hours
• Generous holiday, plus a company holiday and a personal morale budget
• Group income protection, life assurance and wellbeing support
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Electric vehicle scheme, plus cycle to work and discounted bus fares
• A genuine investment in your growth and development
• A relaxed central Bristol office with a stocked drinks fridge, snacks and a pool table

Everybody is welcome to apply. We're committed to building a team where everyone can thrive, whatever your background, united by one thing: building software better and faster. If you've got the drive and the commercial instinct for this role, we'd love to hear from you. Even if you don't tick every box, tell us why you'd be a great fit.