Senior Lead Engineer - Advanced Engineering

Lloyds Banking Group; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 15%

Annual bonus

Share schemes

Discounted shopping

30 days holiday

Wellbeing initiatives

Parental leave

Job summary

Lloyds Banking Group in Manchester is seeking Principal Engineers for the Advanced AI Engineering team. You will lead engineering efforts to evaluate AI tech, build MVPs and enable scalable AI-powered products in a regulated environment.

You will guide teams as a trusted advisor on GenAI, mentor engineers and influence technology strategy within the Data & AI Unit of the CTO. This is a hybrid, full-time position with strong collaboration across business and platform teams.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading engineering teams and delivering production-grade technology in complex environments.
• Strong software engineering expertise with proficiency in multiple programming languages.
• Deep applied AI/ML and Generative AI experience including GenAI patterns and tools.
• Experience designing, building and operating AI solutions within regulated environments.
• Analytical thinking and judgement for translating challenges into MVPs and scalable solutions.
• Ability to influence, coach and mentor engineers and engage senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Partner with business and platform teams to identify priority AI problems and adoption bottlenecks.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies through research, experimentation and rapid prototyping.
• Lead engineering and delivery of MVPs addressing critical business challenges.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor in GenAI and Agentic AI domains.
• Coach engineers to adopt proven AI patterns and practices.

Skills

Leadership experience

Software engineering

Applied AI/ML experience

GenAI / AI agents

AI in regulated environments

Analytical thinking

Mentoring engineers

Influencing technical direction

Large-scale customer-facing solutions

Job description

LOCATION(S): Manchester

HOURS: Full time

WORKING PATTERN: Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of your time, at one of our office sites.

About this opportunity

The new Advanced AI Engineering team is seeking Principal Engineers to join. The purpose of the team is to evaluate emerging AI technologies and methods, build MVPs, and hand over proven solutions for engineering at scale. A key priority is enabling the Group to create industry-leading AI-powered products and services that drive customer engagement and service excellence!

You'll join the Data & AI Unit within the Chief Technology Office (CTO), helping shape and support the Group's Data and AI technology strategy. This role sits at the forefront of Agentic AI, combining technical leadership, hands-on engineering expertise and applied GenAI knowledge to deliver innovative solutions within a regulated environment!

Day-to-day, you'll:

• Partner with business and platform teams to identify priority problems and adoption bottlenecks, focusing on customer-facing AI solutions that can operate effectively within a regulated environment.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies, techniques and approaches through applied research, experimentation and rapid prototyping.
• Lead the engineering and delivery of operational MVPs that address critical business challenges and create a pathway to scalable adoption.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor, guiding engineering teams, technology leaders, and business collaborators in GenAI and Agentic AI.
• Coach and mentor engineers, helping teams develop engineering capability and adopt proven AI patterns and practices.
• Influence business and technology strategy by demonstrating the art of the possible and finding opportunities to bring value through AI innovation.

About us / Why Lloyds Banking Group

We're creating a future where technology and innovation help us serve customers better every day. Through our Data & AI capabilities, we're exploring new ways to solve complex problems, improve customer experiences and support colleagues across the organisation.

Join us and you'll have the opportunity to work on meaningful challenges, collaborate with talented colleagues and help shape the future of AI-powered products and services at scale.

What you'll need

• Proven experience leading engineering teams and delivering production-grade technology solutions in complex environments, with accountability for outcomes.
• Strong software engineering expertise with proficiency in at least two programming languages and a track record of solving complex technical problems.
• Deep applied AI/ML and Generative AI experience, including the use of patterns such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), tool use, guardrails, evaluation frameworks and AI agents.
• Experience designing, building and operating AI solutions within regulated environments, managing considerations such as reliability, security, safety and explainability.
• Strong analytical thinking and judgement, with the ability to translate ambiguous challenges into clear technical direction, MVPs and scalable engineering solutions.
• Proven ability to influence, coach and mentor engineers while engaging senior stakeholders on technical direction, architecture and technology decisions.
• And any experience of this would be really useful
• Experience delivering technology solutions within regulated industries, particularly financial services.
• Experience conducting or applying research within industry, academia or equivalent environments.
• Experience developing large-scale customer-facing technology solutions and influencing engineering standards, reference architectures or reusable patterns across large organisations.

This is a place for you...

Our ambition is to be the leading UK business for diversity, equity and inclusion, supporting our customers, colleagues and communities. We are committed to creating an environment in which everyone can thrive, learn and develop.

We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and launch a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative.

We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. As a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role and have a disability, long-term health or neurodivergent condition, through the Disability Confident Scheme.

We provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to reduce or remove barriers - just let us know what you need.

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies