Software Engineer, Principal

Infor; Farnborough; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Infor in Farnborough seeks a Principal AI Lead to define and drive the AI strategy across the MES platform and Manufacturing portfolio.

You will lead architecture, security, and governance for AI-enabled features, mentor engineers, and collaborate with product teams to shape AI-driven products. This high-impact role requires strong hands-on AI and software leadership and a track record in enterprise SaaS.

Qualifications

• Proven software engineering background delivering enterprise apps or platforms.
• Hands-on development experience with modern engineering practices and technologies.
• Experience delivering production AI solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs).

Responsibilities

• Define AI architecture, standards, and technical strategy for MES and Manufacturing portfolio.
• Design scalable, secure AI-enabled features using cloud-native SaaS principles.
• Build production AI feature sets and reusable platform components.
• Define API strategies and integration patterns for AI with MES processes.
• Lead data modelling, ontology strategy, and semantic understanding for AI experiences.
• Provide architectural leadership across AI, IoT, and platform teams.
• Collaborate with Product Management to align AI investments with customer needs.
• Establish engineering standards for security, governance, observability, and responsible AI.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and architectures.
• Mentor engineers and act as a technical authority for AI initiatives.

Skills

AI architecture

LLMs & AI integration

Cloud-native / SaaS

Software design

Team leadership

Security & governance

Knowledge graphs / ontology

API design

C#

Job description

Description

We are seeking a Principal AI Lead to define and drive the technical strategy for AI capabilities across the Infor MES platform and wider Manufacturing portfolio.

Department: Development

Location: Farnborough

A Typical Day In The Life Includes

• Defining the AI architecture, standards, and technical strategy for MES and the Manufacturing portfolio.
• Designing scalable, secure, and reliable AI-enabled product features using cloud-native and SaaS principles.
• Building production AI feature sets, reference implementations, and reusable platform components.
• Defining API strategies, tool interfaces, and integration patterns that enable AI capabilities to interact effectively with MES business processes.
• Leading the platform's approach to data modelling, ontology strategy, semantic understanding, and business context required for AI-driven experiences.
• Providing architectural leadership across multiple engineering teams delivering AI, Integration, IoT, Connected Worker, and platform capabilities.
• Working closely with Product Management to align AI investments with customer needs, business objectives, and market opportunities.
• Establishing engineering standards for security, governance, observability, and responsible AI.
• Evaluating emerging AI technologies, frameworks, and architectural approaches.
• Mentoring engineers and acting as a technical authority for AI initiatives across the Manufacturing portfolio.
• Contributing to long-term technical strategy and roadmap planning for AI Acceleration initiatives.

Basic Qualifications

• A demonstrated background of software engineering experience delivering enterprise applications or platforms.
• Strong hands-on software development experience using modern engineering practices and technologies.
• Proven experience designing and delivering production AI solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs).
• Experience with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic architectures, AI orchestration frameworks, and tool-based AI systems.
• Experience integrating AI capabilities into enterprise software products.
• Experience designing APIs, service contracts, and software architectures.
• Experience with cloud-native application development and modern SaaS architectures.
• Experience with semantic modelling, ontologies, knowledge graphs, or domain-driven modelling approaches used to represent complex business domains.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, security, scalability, reliability, and observability.
• Excellent C# and .NET experience and strong understanding of relational databases.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and product areas.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within Manufacturing, MES, ERP, Industrial IoT, or Operational Technology environments.
• Experience building multi-tenant SaaS platforms.
• Experience with vector databases, embeddings, semantic search, and AI retrieval architectures.
• Experience defining enterprise AI architecture and governance standards.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers or leading technical communities of practice.
• Previous people leadership or line management experience.

Infor MES is undergoing a significant transformation as we evolve towards a cloud-native SaaS platform and embed AI-driven capabilities throughout the product experience.

You will join a highly experienced engineering team with deep manufacturing knowledge, a strong culture of ownership, and a passion for building great software. We move quickly, value innovation, and give engineers the opportunity to turn ideas into production reality.

For the right individual, this role offers a rare opportunity to shape how AI is applied within manufacturing, influence product and technical strategy, contribute hands‑on engineering leadership, and make a lasting impact across both the Infor Manufacturing portfolio and the wider Infor AI ecosystem.

About Infor

Infor is where ambition meets impact. Join a global community of bold thinkers and innovators, where your expertise doesn't just solve problems. it shapes industries, unlocks opportunities, and creates real-world impact for billions of people. At Infor, you're not just building a career. you're helping to build what's next.

Infor is a global leader in business cloud software products for companies in industry specific markets. Infor builds complete industry suites in the cloud and efficiently deploys technology that puts the user experience first, leverages data science, and integrates easily into existing systems. Over 60,000 organizations worldwide rely on Infor to help overcome market disruptions and achieve business-wide digital transformation.

For more information visit www.infor.com

Our Values

At Infor, we strive for an environment that is founded on a business philosophy called Principle Based Management™ (PBM™) and eight Guiding Principles: integrity, stewardship & compliance, transformation, principled entrepreneurship, knowledge, humility, respect, self-actualization.

We have a relentless commitment to a culture based on PBM™. Informed by the principles that allow a free and open society to flourish, PBM™ prepares individuals to innovate, improve, and transform while fostering a healthy, growing organization that creates long-term value for its clients and supporters and fulfillment for its employees.

Infor is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. Infor does not discriminate against candidates or employees because of their sex, race, gender identity, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, veteran status, or any other protected status under the law. If you require accommodation or assistance at any time during the application or selection processes, please submit a request by following the directions located in the FAQ section.