Research Software Engineer

European Tech Recruit; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

European Tech Recruit seeks a Software Research Engineer to join its Retrieval and Agent Intelligence team in Edinburgh on a permanent PAYE basis. The role focuses on bridging AI research and production-grade software, delivering next-generation retrieval and agentic AI technologies.

The ideal candidate has 3+ years of software engineering experience with expertise in Python, NLP/ML, LLMs and information retrieval, and is comfortable collaborating with researchers in a fast-paced,

Qualifications

• 3+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience with Python, Docker and Git.
• Experience with information retrieval / advanced retrieval mechanisms.
• Experience with NLP, LLMs or Machine Learning.
• Strong algorithmic and problem-solving mindset, especially with non-deterministic systems.
• Experience with Test Driven Development and CI/CD.
• Strong software engineering practices, including clean, reusable and production-quality code.
• Knowledge of Knowledge Graphs and Graph Databases is desirable.

Responsibilities

• Bridge AI research and production-grade software.
• Develop next-generation retrieval and agentic AI technologies (e.g., GraphRAG, dynamic context compression, agent memory, long-horizon reasoning).
• Work with researchers to turn ideas into high-quality prototypes and scalable production systems.

Skills

Software engineering

Python

Docker

Git

Information retrieval

NLP/ML

TDD/CI-CD

Graph knowledge/Graph databases

Tools

CI/CD

Job description

Retrieval and Agent Intelligence – Software Research Engineer

A leading global technology company is looking for a Software Research Engineer to join its Retrieval and Agent Intelligence (RAI) team in Edinburgh on a permanent PAYE basis.

The ideal candidate will have 3+ years of software engineering experience and an interest in research, with experience working alongside researchers and developing research prototypes or advanced AI systems.

The key skills required for the Software Research Engineer:

• 3+ years of software engineering/project experience


• Strong Python, Docker and Git skills


• Experience with information retrieval / advanced retrieval mechanisms


• Experience with NLP, LLMs or Machine Learning


• Strong algorithmic and problem-solving mindset, particularly around non-deterministic systems


• Experience with Test Driven Development and CI/CD


• Strong software engineering practices, including clean, reusable and production-quality code


• Knowledge of Knowledge Graphs and Graph Databases is desirable


• Understanding of LLM agents, hallucination handling, memory, reasoning and planning is desirable


• Experience with modern multimodal data ingestion is advantageous


• Comfortable working in a research-driven, collaborative environment and quickly adopting new technologies

The role will involve bridging AI research and production-grade software, developing next-generation retrieval and agentic AI technologies including GraphRAG, dynamic context compression, agent memory, long-horizon reasoning and planning.

You will work closely with researchers to turn novel ideas into high-quality prototypes and scalable production systems.

Key words: Software Engineer / Research Engineer / AI / NLP / LLM / Information Retrieval / Retrieval / RAG / GraphRAG / Agentic AI / AI Agents / Knowledge Graph / Machine Learning / Python / Docker / Git / CI/CD / TDD / Multimodal / Reasoning / Planning / Memory / Edinburgh / Research

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