Jobs in Durham, United Kingdom

We're looking for experienced lead engineers or equivalent to lead targeted micro-workshops for small groups of software engineers. The sessions last up to 90 minutes, take place remotely via our app, and are based around high quality teaching material that we produce. Your job is to bring expertise and enthusiasm for software engineering and ensure our learners leave with a deep understanding of the topic (understanding why, not just knowing what or how), and the ability to apply new skills.

You can expect to be teaching senior as well as junior engineers, answering interesting questions tangential to our material, and helping learners to understand and improve the results they see when using LLMs. For this reason, we've found that the skill profile required is more similar to pairing or technical mentoring than it is to typical classroom teaching.

Skiller Whale changes what tech teams are capable of through live sessions led by subject‑matter experts. Developers attend a 60‑90 minute session every week or two, learning something new through challenging exercises with an expert leading the session to explain the topic and answer difficult questions. Learners love us (they give us an average rating of 4.8/5) and we have a measurable impact on the teams we work with.

Our learners say: “The real‑time feedback loop of learning something, putting it into practice and getting insight beyond ‘it works’ beats any other learning experience I've had by miles.” “I loved that I could ask any questions at all, and learned new things even in a technology I’ve been using for 15 years!” “The biggest pro of Skiller Whale is the quality of the coaches. I really appreciate the deep knowledge they had both on the internals of Python, and how to architect systems.”

• Explaining basic machine learning concepts to others.
• Some knowledge of LLM internals, e.g. transformer building blocks (at least enough to underpin deeper understanding of their behaviour).
• Prompt engineering.
• Agentic AI & using IDE integrations with AI agents.
• Coding with LLMs, e.g. setting up Cursor/Copilot configs, and writing prompts for coding/debugging.
• Integrating/Pipelining with LLMs, e.g. LangChain.
• Customising LLM tools, e.g. fine tuning LLMs, using RAG systems.

You will have significant expertise and experience in a real‑world setting, be able to give nuanced answers to difficult questions, and explain advanced concepts clearly and succinctly.

What we look for:

• Knowledge & Understanding – you should come across as an expert, able to expand beyond the provided material when appropriate. Provide examples from your experience, what works well, what doesn’t.
• Careful Listening and Clear Explanations – deliver clear and concise explanations in spoken English and adapt style to match the level of your audience.
• Expert Spoken and Written English – clear to non‑native speakers; quick understanding of complex phrasing and clarifying when needed.
• A Personable, Passionate and Professional Demeanour – build rapport, create a safe space, remain friendly and enthusiastic while maintaining professionalism.
• Industry Experience – extensive real‑world experience to give senior engineers confidence; provide examples and anecdotes.
• Teaching or Mentoring Experience – formal or informal experience with groups of software engineers or mentoring developers, especially senior.
• Bonus Points – experience with multiple languages/frameworks/tools and context from diverse developer backgrounds.

• Rate: £100 per hour (+ £50 for preparation for each new module taught).
• Very flexible work – we will aim to schedule sessions that fit your availability, and you have no ongoing commitment.
• Fully remote, forever.
• Have a real impact on learners. Our sessions actually make people better at their jobs.
• Teaching is fun!