Senior Software Engineer/ Senior AI Engineer

RELX; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive Pension Plan

Generous vacation entitlement

Parental, adoption and family care

Employee discounts

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Senior Software Engineer / Senior AI Engineer to join the Embedded Innovation Teams in Greater London. You will tackle research, design, and software development assignments within the squad’s product area, turning AI experimentation into validated, reusable solutions.

You’ll work with stakeholders to translate requests into workable software and contribute to code reviews and best practices.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in software engineering, with AI-enabled or data-intensive systems experience.
• BS in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Build prototypes and ship AI solutions to production standards.
• Implement and test tool use, retrieval pipelines, and agent workflows.
• Develop, review, and maintain detailed specifications for complex components.
• Mentor junior engineers through pair programming and collaboration.
• Instrument solutions to capture usage and quality metrics against baselines.

Skills

Software engineering

AI/ML systems

Cloud services

CI/CD

Python/Java/TypeScript

AGILE/SDLC

Education

BS in Engineering or CS

Tools

AI SDKs

APIs & data pipelines

Relational/databases/Vector stores

Job description

Senior Software Engineer / Senior AI Engineer

Are you excited about building intelligent systems powered by innovative AI technologies? Do you enjoy designing models that turn complex data into impactful solutions?

About the team

Embedded Innovation Teams are cross‑functional squads embedded within our segments to rapidly turn internal AI experimentation into validated, reusable solutions, building the capabilities we need to deliver customer value and growth. We work problem‑first rather than tool‑first, directly inside segment and function teams, improving the internal workflows that help our people deliver better outcomes for customers, faster.

About the role

As a Senior Software / Senior AI Engineer, you will be an experienced member of an embedded Innovation Squad, taking on difficult research, design, and software development assignments within the squad’s product area. Working under the guidance of more senior members of the squad, you will provide direct input to project plans, schedules and delivery approach, and perform software design across multiple components as we turn AI experimentation into validated, reusable solutions. You will work with others to talk to internal stakeholders and end users in the host function, translating their requests into workable solutions. You will write and review specifications, complete complex bug fixes, and help embed coding best practices and code reviews. You are also developing your skills as a mentor, supporting the growth of more junior engineers through pair programming and everyday collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

• Build prototypes and proofs of concept and ship agentic AI solutions to production standard within a defined technical approach.
• Implement and test tool use, retrieval pipelines, and agent workflows.
• Contribute to evaluation, observability and guardrails for agentic systems, identifying operational requirements for logging, instrumentation and alerting.
• Instrument solutions to capture outcome data against established baselines.
• Integrate AI capabilities into existing enterprise workflows and systems.
• Interface with technical peers and team members to finalise requirements and write and review portions of detailed specifications for complex system components.
• Translate product requirements into software designs, working alongside host‑function stakeholders to ensure the build fits real workflows, not assumed ones.
• Complete moderately complex bug fixes and flag technical risks and blockers early.
• Implement continuous integration, delivery, and deployment practices, and apply coding best practices and code reviews.
• Maintain high code quality and documentation, and build solutions for reuse, contributing to patterns, reference implementations, and starter kits so work done in one function can be picked up by another.
• Operate across various development environments (Agile, Waterfall, etc.) while collaborating with key stakeholders.
• Pair‑program with squad members, and support handover and capability‑building in the host function so solutions are owned and operable after the squad moves on.
• Develop your skills in mentoring less senior engineers on development methodologies and optimisation techniques.
• Keep abreast of new technology developments and take on related responsibilities as the squad’s needs evolve.

Requirements

• Engineering experience: 4+ years of software engineering experience, ideally including exposure to AI‑enabled or data‑intensive systems.
• Education: BS in Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent.
• Ways of working: Comfortable working autonomously within a defined problem and pushing back when something doesn’t make sense, and delivering in short, time‑boxed cycles where validated outcomes matter more than perfect solutions.
• Agentic AI / LLMs: Building RAG pipelines, tool‑augmented agents and agentic workflows; familiar with prompt engineering, context management, evaluation and observability.
• Agent fundamentals: Understands how agents use memory, tools, and retrieval to complete multi‑step tasks.
• Software design: Able to design across multiple components and translate product requirements into workable software designs, not just implement a defined spec.
• Specifications: Able to write and review portions of detailed specifications for complex system components.
• Enterprise integration: Integrating AI into existing systems via APIs and data pipelines.
• Cloud: AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Delivery: CI/CD, modern SDLC, TDD, and code review.
• Data: Working with relational, columnar, and vector stores, grounded in sound data‑modelling principles.
• Languages: Python, Java, TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL, and relevant AI SDKs.
• Mentoring: Developing skills in mentoring engineers through pair programming and day‑to‑day collaboration.
• Communication: Clear written and verbal communication with technical peers and stakeholders.
• Measurement: Instrumenting solutions to capture usage, productivity, and quality metrics against established baselines.

Why Join Us?

Join our team and contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence. If you are ready to advance your career and make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Work in a way that works for you

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organization. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long‑term goals.

• Working flexible hours – flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive.

Working for you

We know that your well‑being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. These are some of the benefits we are delighted to offer:

• Comprehensive Pension Plan
• Generous vacation entitlement and option for sabbatical leave
• Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, and Family Care Leave
• Personal Choice budget
• Internal communities and networks
• Various employee discounts
• Recruitment introduction reward
• Employee Assistance Program (global)

About the business

A global leader in information and analytics, we help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Building on our publishing heritage, we combine quality information and vast data sets with analytics to support visionary science and research, health education, and interactive learning, as well as exceptional healthcare and clinical practice. At Elsevier, your work contributes to the world’s grand challenges and a more sustainable future. We harness innovative technologies to support science and healthcare to partner for a better world.

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