Senior Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineer

Metropolitan Police; Sydenham; On-site; GBP 56,000 - 57,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 29%

Leave 28–33 days

Development pathways

Training & qualifications

Family support

Financial wellbeing

Sports & social clubs

Job summary

Metropolitan Police is seeking a Senior Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineer in Sydenham. You will lead a dedicated LFR engineering team, overseeing development, testing, deployment and maintenance of LFR systems to support frontline policing operations.

The role requires a UK driving licence and a willingness to obtain additional training. You will work in a hands‑on leadership capacity with a team of engineers, ensuring reliable deployment of cutting‑edge LFR capabilities while maintaining

Qualifications

• Relevant technical or engineering background is required.
• Full, valid UK driving licence, with willingness to complete additional driver training.
• Strong problem‑solving/decision‑making ability and high attention to detail.
• Clear communication and interpersonal skills.
• Willingness to undertake role‑specific training as required.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineering Team to develop, test, deploy and maintain LFR technology.
• Support frontline policing operations by deploying LFR solutions and managing specialist deployment vehicles.

Skills

Engineering background

Driving license

Problem solving

Communication

Training willingness

Security clearance eligibility

Job description

Senior Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineer

Vacancy Reference Number

22618

Number of Vacancies 1

Location Sydenham

Band Band N

Part/Full Time Full Time

36 hours per week

Type of Contract Permanent

Job Advert

Job Title: Senior Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineer

Salary: The starting salary is £55,662, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.

The salary is broken down as £52,653 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £57,417. Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Sydenham

London is one of the world's most diverse and dynamic cities. Policing it requires innovative technology and highly skilled people to support frontline operations.

The Role

As a supervisor of the Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineering Team, you’ll play a crucial part in protecting London. You’ll be part of our talented, tight-knit team, helping to deploy LFR solutions for frontline policing operations. As we expand our capability, we now have a vacancy for this exciting role. No prior experience of LFR systems is required as full training will be given, however a basic understanding of the capability would be helpful.

You’ll be joining a friendly and highly collaborative team of around 50 engineers, responsible for designing, developing, building and deploying a wide range of technical solutions, primarily supporting surveillance and operational policing activities. Within this wider function, you’ll work as part of the Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Team, supporting a cutting-edge capability at the forefront of modern policing. Working alongside a dedicated group of 10 LFR engineers, you’ll help deploy, maintain and enhance systems that provide critical operational support to frontline officers and help keep London safe.

We are seeking a Senior LFR Engineering to lead a small specialist team responsible for the development, testing, deployment and maintenance of LFR technology and associated equipment. This is a hands-on technical leadership role, combining operational support, engineering expertise and people management. You will oversee the delivery of specialist technology used in frontline policing operations and support the ongoing development of our LFR capability across London. This is very much a deployment role and full UK driving licence is essential with a willingness to obtain C1/D1. A key aspect of the role is the management and future development of our fleet of specially adapted operational vehicles. Experience in vehicle technologies, including DC/AC power systems, battery management or related engineering disciplines, would be advantageous to help support our specialist deployment vehicles.

Flexibility to work outside standard business hours when required. This is a deployment role and there will be an expectation on you to typically work two evenings each week and occasionally weekends. You will be compensated accordingly.

We offer in return

Joining the Met means building a career with purpose, stability and real development, supported by a strong benefits package designed for long-term growth and wellbeing.

• Annual salary progression
• Excellent pension scheme (MPS contribution up to 29%)
• Generous leave entitlement – 28 days rising to 33 days after 5 years, plus bank holidays
• Clear development pathways – apprenticeships, funded qualifications and internal promotion
• Ongoing training and free funded courses and qualifications
• Enhanced family support, including maternity, parental leave and childcare assistance
• Financial wellbeing support, including interest‑free season ticket, rental deposit and childcare loans
• Access to Met sports and social clubs

Additional Information

This role does not attract Shift Disturbance Allowance. If you are currently in a shift-working role, SDA should cease upon appointment to this job.

Vetting

This post requires access to the most sensitive intelligence material on a daily basis. Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Security Check (enhanced) (SC(e)) level before taking up the post.

To streamline our recruitment process, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

• Relevant technical or engineering background, demonstrated through qualifications or practical experience.
• Full, valid UK driving license, with willingness to complete additional driver training.
• Strong problem‑solving / decision‑making ability and high attention to detail
• Clear communication and interpersonal skills
• Willingness to undertake role‑specific training as required.
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain security clearance

Disability Confident Statement

The Met is committed to being an equitable (fair and impartial) and inclusive employer for disabled people, striving to have a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and long‑term conditions, ethnic minority groups and women.

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure disabled applicants can perform at their best. If youneed any reasonable adjustments or changes to the application and recruitment process, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence.

Please note, if you are applying for a police officer role or to become a police community support officer (PCSO) or designated detention officer (DDO), there is a minimum requirement that you must pass a job‑related fitness test (JRFT) at point of entry. This does not apply to police staff roles. Find out more about police fitness standards .

Read our full disability confidence statement.