Research Software Engineer

European Tech Recruit; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

European Tech Recruit is seeking a Software Research Engineer to help shape the next generation of agentic AI systems in Edinburgh.

This highly technical, research-driven role sits at the intersection of AI research and production software engineering, collaborating with world-class researchers and international teams to turn ideas into scalable, reliable research prototypes and production-ready AI systems.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, AI, ML, NLP, Mathematics, Statistics or related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of hands-on software engineering experience delivering complex technical systems.
• Strong algorithmic thinking and software development skills, with an understanding of LLMs, agent architectures, reasoning, decision-making and planning.
• A research mindset and the ability to tackle non-deterministic, open-ended technical problems.
• Strong Python development skills and experience with Docker and Git.
• Experience with TDD, clean code, CI/CD and modern software engineering practices.
• Ability to rapidly learn new technologies and translate research concepts into working systems.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across international and multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Bridge AI research and production-grade software, translating state-of-the-art research into robust engineering systems.
• Design, develop and iterate agentic AI research prototypes and production services.
• Drive projects end-to-end across data preparation, algorithm design, model implementation, system engineering and deployment.
• Investigate new approaches to agent memory, reasoning, planning, self-evolution and multi-agent systems.
• Evaluate and optimise agent performance, reliability and scalability.
• Work closely with researchers and cross-border teams to explore emerging AI technologies and define future technical directions.
• Support deployment, monitoring and continuous improvement of agent systems.
• Contribute to open-source projects and the wider AI research community.

Skills

Python development

Research mindset

Algorithmic thinking

Learning agility

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Docker

Git

CI/CD

Job description

Software Research Engineer – Agentic AI | Edinburgh

12 Month Fixed Term Contract

My client are looking for a Software Research Engineer to join help shape the next generation of agentic AI systems.

This is a highly technical, research-driven role for an engineer who enjoys working at the intersection of AI research and production software engineering. You’ll work alongside world-class researchers and international teams to turn cutting-edge ideas into scalable, reliable research prototypes and production-ready AI systems.

Responsibilities

• Bridge AI research and production-grade software, translating state-of-the-art research into robust engineering systems.
• Design, develop and iterate agentic AI research prototypes and production services.
• Drive projects end-to-end across data preparation, algorithm design, model implementation, system engineering and deployment.
• Investigate new approaches to agent memory, reasoning, planning, self-evolution and multi-agent systems.
• Evaluate and optimise agent performance, reliability and scalability.
• Work closely with researchers and cross-border teams to explore emerging AI technologies and define future technical directions.
• Support deployment, monitoring and continuous improvement of agent systems.
• Contribute to open-source projects and the wider AI research community.

Experience

• Degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, NLP, Mathematics, Statistics or a related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of hands-on software engineering experience delivering complex technical systems.
• Strong algorithmic thinking and software development skills, with an understanding of LLMs, agent architectures, reasoning, decision-making and planning.
• A research mindset and the ability to tackle non-deterministic, open-ended technical problems.
• Strong Python development skills and experience with Docker and Git.
• Experience with TDD, clean code, CI/CD and modern software engineering practices.
• Ability to rapidly learn new technologies and translate research concepts into working systems.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across international and multidisciplinary teams.