AI Software Engineering Lead

GCS Recruitment; Cork; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

GCS Recruitment's Cork-based client is seeking a hands-on Software Engineering Lead to steer the AI engineering function. The role blends technical leadership with coding, PoCs, and architectural validation in a fast-growing industrial tech environment.

You will design cloud-native, container-first services, mentor engineers, and help hire the team while raising engineering bar across the group. Strong Python, REST, Kubernetes, and cloud experience are essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Proven technical leadership with design direction and mentoring.
• Strong Python skills: OOP, typing, async, FastAPI.
• Experience building REST APIs and service integrations.
• Cloud experience on at least one hyperscaler (Azure preferred), plus container expertise.
• Kubernetes experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps.
• Strong testing discipline (PyTest) and code reviews.
• Understanding of AuthN/AuthZ (OpenID/OAuth2).

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical direction of a high-impact AI engineering team, staying hands-on
• Design and deliver cloud-native, container-first services built to scale
• Take AI-enabled capabilities from early exploration through to secure, production deployments
• Write high-quality Python code and define the engineering bar for maintainability and testing
• Drive good engineering practices across CI/CD, containerisation, Kubernetes, and cloud operations
• Play a central role in hiring and building the team
• Mentor and coach engineers through reviews, pairing, and technical feedback

Skills

Python

REST APIs

Kubernetes

Cloud (Azure)

CI/CD

FastAPI

OpenID/OAuth2

Leadership

Tools

Azure

Docker

Kubernetes

FastAPI

Job description

Software Engineering Lead (AI)

Location: Cork, Ireland (on-site)
Type: Full-time, Permanent

About the company

A fast-growing, IDA-backed industrial technology company building out its engineering presence in Cork. The business operates at the forefront of emerging technology, with AI already shipping in production across its platform - not early-stage experimentation.

About the role

We're looking for a hands-on Software Engineering Lead to run our AI engineering function. This is a technical leadership role, not a purely managerial one - you'll still be writing code, running PoCs, and validating architecture, while setting technical direction, hiring the team, and raising the engineering bar across the group.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical direction of a high-impact AI engineering team, staying hands-on
• Design and deliver cloud-native, container-first services built to scale
• Take AI-enabled capabilities from early exploration through to secure, production deployments
• Write high-quality Python code and define the engineering bar for maintainability and testing
• Drive good engineering practices across CI/CD, containerisation, Kubernetes, and cloud operations
• Play a central role in hiring and building the team
• Mentor and coach engineers through reviews, pairing, and technical feedback

Requirements

• Strong professional software engineering background (typically 10+ years, though impact and evidence of delivery matter more than a specific number)
• Proven technical leadership - leading design discussions, mentoring, setting direction
• Strong Python engineering skills: OOP, typing, async programming, FastAPI preferred
• Demonstrated experience building REST APIs and service integrations
• Cloud experience on at least one hyperscaler (Azure preferred), with strong container experience
• Kubernetes experience strongly preferred
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices
• Strong testing discipline (PyTest) and code review habits
• Understanding of AuthN/AuthZ fundamentals (OpenID/OAuth2)

Nice to have

• Experience building with Generative AI or Agentic AI frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, Hugging Face)
• Familiarity with event-driven architecture
• Azure platform depth (Cosmos DB, serverless)
• Interest in modern AI concepts (transformers, attention, deep learning foundations)