We are seeking a highly experienced and hands-on Principal AI/ML Architect & Applied AI Lead to drive the design, development, and operationalisation of enterprise-scale AI systems across research and production environments.
This role combines deep technical expertise in Machine Learning, Generative AI, distributed data systems, and cloud-native architectures with strategic leadership capabilities. The ideal candidate will lead complex AI initiatives end-to-end — from experimentation and research to scalable deployment in global enterprise environments.
The position requires a strong balance between:
- technical leadership
- hands-on implementation
- cross-functional collaboration
- mentoring of engineering and data science teams
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in AI/ML, data science, or distributed systems engineering.
- Proven experience designing and deploying production-grade AI solutions at enterprise scale.
- Strong background in both research and industrial AI environments.
- Experience leading global or distributed technical teams.
- Demonstrated success in delivering AI transformation initiatives.
- Generative AI systems
- NLP / NLU
- Databricks
- SQL / NoSQL databases
- Distributed computing architectures
- Streaming and batch processing pipelines
- Docker
- Infrastructure-as-Code
- MLOps frameworks
- Python
- Scala
- Experience with AI governance and responsible AI practices
- Experience building AI platforms serving multiple teams or business units
- Experience optimizing cloud infrastructure and reducing operational costs.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and implementation of AI/ML solutions across multiple business domains.
- Drive enterprise adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative AI, NLP/NLU, and advanced analytics solutions.
- Define AI architecture standards, MLOps best practices, and scalable deployment strategies.
- Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities for innovation and operational impact.
- Translate research initiatives into production-ready AI solutions.
- Architect scalable distributed data-processing systems capable of handling large-scale datasets and real-time pipelines.
- Design and optimise cloud-native AI platforms using modern data engineering frameworks.
- Lead cloud migration and modernisation initiatives from on‑premises environments to Azure and/or AWS.
- Implement efficient data pipelines leveraging Spark, Delta Lake, Databricks, Kubernetes, and containerised environments.
- Ensure reliability, scalability, observability, and cost‑efficiency of AI infrastructure.
- Design and implement enterprise-grade chatbot and conversational AI platforms.
- Lead development of Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic workflows, and LLM orchestration systems.
- Define governance, evaluation, and monitoring strategies for GenAI systems.
- Collaborate with research teams to operationalize LLM‑based applications securely and responsibly.
- Lead cross‑functional teams composed of data scientists, ML engineers, software engineers, and business stakeholders.
- Mentor engineers and researchers in AI/ML best practices, architecture, and software engineering standards.
- Coordinate global AI initiatives across distributed teams and multiple geographies.
- Communicate technical concepts effectively to executive and non‑technical audiences.
- Support innovation programs and AI adoption strategies across the organisation.