Applied AI Engineer

kadence; United States; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Kadence is hiring an Applied AI Engineer to join cross-functional squads in a hybrid setup across the Netherlands or UK. You will own an AI-native feature end-to-end—from interface to deployment and observability—and be responsible for shipping production-grade AI capabilities with real customers.

You will work on RAG pipelines, agentic systems, and evaluation harnesses, collaborating closely with PMs and other engineers while mentoring peers and contributing beyond solo work.

Qualifications

• Full-stack capabilities across frontend, backend, and infra.
• Production-grade AI features shipped to real customers, post-2023.
• Experience with RAG pipelines, agentic systems, and evaluation harnesses.
• Ability to design and maintain non-deterministic system evaluation.
• Familiarity with AI observability tooling and vector databases.
• Strong communication and collaboration across mixed-skill squads.

Responsibilities

• Design and ship production-grade AI features (RAG pipelines, agents, eval harnesses).
• Collaborate with PMs and engineers; raise the capability of teammates.
• Participate in customer interactions and occasionally visit sites.

Skills

Frontend (React/TypeScript)

Backend (Python/TypeScript)

Cloud & Infra (Azure, containers, CI-­

AI features (RAG, agentic systems)

Evaluation harnesses & non-determinism

AI observability tools (Langfuse, Lang

Vector databases

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Azure

Containers

CI/CD

React

TypeScript

Python

Langfuse

LangSmith

Braintrust

Vector databases

Job description

Applied AI Engineer – Enterprise SaaS | Netherlands or UK (Hybrid)

I'm partnering with a fast-moving Enterprise SaaS company undergoing a genuine AI-native transformation. They are not bolting AI onto an existing product, but rebuilding workflows from the ground up around AI-powered automation. Their customers are industrial operators, and the product directly shapes how maintenance, planning, and compliance work gets done in the field.

They're hiring a small number of experienced Applied AI Engineers to join cross-functional product squads. Each engineer owns a vertical slice of an AI-native feature end-to-end - interface, orchestration, deployment, and observability. This is a build-and-ship mandate, not a research or strategy role.

What you'll be doing

You'll design and ship production-grade AI features - RAG pipelines, agentic systems, evaluation harnesses - for real customers at real scale. You'll work closely with PMs and existing engineers, and you're expected to raise the people around you, not just contribute in isolation. Customer curiosity is part of the job; expect to join customer calls and occasionally visit sites.

What they're looking for

• Genuinely full-stack: comfortable shipping across frontend (React/TypeScript), backend (Python/TypeScript), and infrastructure (Azure, containers, CI/CD)
• Hands-on production experience with LLM-powered features shipped post-2023 — real users, real failure modes, not demos or internal chatbots
• Deep applied AI craft: RAG pipelines, Graph RAG, agentic systems (tool calling, multi-step reasoning, human-in-the-loop), and structured outputs
• Eval-literate — able to design and maintain evaluation harnesses for non-deterministic systems; LLM-as-judge, regression suites, agent trajectory scoring
• Familiar with AI observability tooling (Langfuse, LangSmith, Braintrust, or equivalent) and vector databases
• Strong communicator who can explain complex systems simply and collaborate across a mixed-skill squad

Strongly preferred

• Experience in a forward-deployed or customer-facing engineering role
• Day-to-day use of AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf) and a view on Spec-Driven Development
• Background in industrial, operations, or vertical SaaS is a plus — but curiosity about the domain matters more than prior experience

Location

Hybrid. Preferred locations: Netherlands (HQ) or UK.