VP Engineering

Aveva Group Plc; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology company is seeking a seasoned Software Development Leader as a VP – R&D for AI Core Services. This role involves driving the design and execution of scalable core AI services and requires over 20 years of experience in software product development, with a focus on cloud-native platforms and AI services. The successful candidate will lead a high-performing team and ensure compliance with AI regulations. This position offers a hybrid working model, providing flexibility and work-life balance.

Benefits

Hybrid working model – local office three days a week.

Qualifications

• 20+ years of experience in software product development.
• 10+ years in leadership roles focused on cloud-native platforms or AI services.
• Proven experience building distributed, secure, and scalable cloud/AI services.

Responsibilities

• Drive the execution, design, and build of core AI services.
• Ensure core AI services are extensible and sustainable.
• Collaborate with Product Managers to translate AI use cases into capabilities.

Skills

Software product development

Leadership in cloud-native platforms

Building scalable cloud/AI services

AI/ML technologies

Public API design

Stakeholder engagement

Communication skills

Job description

VP – R&D – AI Core Services Development – Cambridge, London, UK (Hybrid) – Full‑Time

Overview

AVeva is creating software trusted by over 90% of leading industrial companies. We need a seasoned Software Development Leader to architect, build, and evolve core AI platform services that enable democratized AI access across our product portfolio and partner ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive the execution, design, and build of core AI services that are scalable, reusable, secure, reliable, and highly available.
• Ensure the core AI services (orchestration, SDKs, etc.) are extensible and allow contribution on a federated model to accelerate scalability within AVEVA.
• Ensure core AI services are sustainable and follow best practices for validation, continuous delivery, disaster recovery, and other operational excellence.
• Drive adoption and reuse of core AI services by AVEVA product and capability teams.
• Enable self‑service access, reference implementations, and integration toolkits to lower the barrier to entry.
• Engage with other execution leaders and collaborate with enablement teams to support core AI adoption.
• Embed security and privacy‑by‑design practices into all services and APIs.
• Ensure compliance with global AI regulations and emerging governance frameworks.
• Establish processes for responsible AI, model explainability, observability, and auditability.
• Provide strong execution leadership in AI and cloud‑native software development.
• Guide the use of modern AI frameworks, data pipelines, inference engines, and orchestration platforms.
• Collaborate with Product Managers and Architects to translate industrial AI use cases into service capabilities.
• Build and lead a high‑performing, cross‑functional development team with a strong culture of engineering excellence.
• Foster a builder mindset within the team – encouraging rapid prototyping and continuous improvement with agility of a startup.
• Foster a collaborative environment across geographies, time zones, and technical disciplines, driving adoption of services by internal teams and external partners.
• Ensure developer experience and ease‑of‑use of AI services APIs.
• Maintain compliance with applicable AI governance and regulatory requirements.
• Engage in the growth and strategic direction of the core AI services team.

Qualifications & Experience

• 20+ years of experience in software product development, with 10+ years in leadership roles focused on cloud‑native platforms or AI services.
• Proven experience building distributed, secure, and scalable cloud/AI services (ideally on Microsoft Azure) that accelerate value delivery to customers.
• Solid background in AI/ML technologies, including expertise in AI models and tools.
• Strong knowledge of public API design and service lifecycle management.
• Familiarity with the latest AI standards, including Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent2Agent (A2A).
• Familiarity with AI regulations (EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF) and responsible AI principles.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, collaboration, and communication skills.

Benefits & Working Conditions

• Hybrid working model – employees are expected to be in the local AVEVA office three days a week, with flexibility for remote work where applicable.

Equal Opportunity Statement

AVEVA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to an inclusive culture. We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. All applicants will undergo required background checks in accordance with local laws.