Sandhata Technologies Limited
The Company Sandhata is a global consultancy providing Next Gen Engineering Services dedicated to transforming businesses. Our services span all facets of Digital Transformation, DevOps & Cloud, Integration, Automation, Low Code Application Development and AI-enabled services. Sandhata is a privately held IT services company with bases in the UK and India operating worldwide to help clients deliver a 'digital first' strategy. Sandhata is currently working with clients across various industry sectors, helping them to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions that streamline business processes and drive IT efficiency. The Role We are seeking a hands-on Head of AI Engineering & Innovation to lead Sandhata's AI practice, shape our AI strategy, drive innovation initiatives and support the delivery of AI-enabled services, products and tools for both Sandhata and our clients. This role combines technical leadership, coding, solution design, pre-sales support and thought leadership, requiring someone who is equally comfortable building AI solutions as they are presenting them to clients and internal stakeholders. Key Responsibilities Define and lead Sandhata's AI Engineering and Innovation strategy. Lead the AI & Innovation Engineering practice. Deliver Sandhata's AI-enabled client solutions, internal tools, platforms, products and innovation projects. Innovate and remain hands-on with coding, architecture, engineering and technical problem solving. Enable business development through proposals, pitches, workshops and client engagement. Role model as a thought leader on AI, innovation and emerging technologies. Mandatory Skills & Experience Proven experience leading AI engineering, innovation or AI product teams. Strong hands-on software engineering background with production-grade development experience. Strong Python skills, ideally including FastAPI. Strong AWS experience, including services such as Bedrock, Lambda, ECS/EKS, API Gateway and S3. Experience with LangChain, LangGraph, RAG, vector databases and multi-agent systems. Experience building APIs, platforms, tools and AI-enabled products. Familiarity with evaluation and observability tools such as Arize, Promptfoo, LangSmith or MLflow. Experience with red teaming, AI safety, testing and governance. Strong knowledge of CI/CD, DevOps, Docker and Kubernetes. Strong communication skills and experience supporting pre-sales and client engagements. Experience working in regulated sectors such as banking, telecoms or insurance. Preferred Skills Experience with Azure cloud and Azure AI services. Familiarity with AWS AgentCore. Experience with MLOps, monitoring and deployment tooling. Knowledge of knowledge graphs and graph databases. Experience with low code, automation and integration platforms. Familiarity with Front End technologies and product development practices. Experience building reusable accelerators and internal developer platforms. Exposure to enterprise architecture and solution design. Experience delivering innovation programmes or internal transformation initiatives. Behavioural Competencies Strong communicator who can simplify complex technical concepts. Commercially aware with a strong business mindset. Comfortable balancing strategic leadership with hands-on coding and technical delivery. Pragmatic, delivery-focused and able to work through ambiguity. Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills. What Success Looks like Sandhata has a credible and growing AI Engineering and Innovation Practice. AI services are recognised and commercially successful part of Sandhata's offering. Sandhata develops reusable AI tools, accelerators and internal capabilities. Clients see Sandhata as a trusted advisor for AI and innovation. Innovation initiatives deliver measurable value internally and for clients. Sandhata is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
The Company Sandhata is a global consultancy providing Next Gen Engineering Services dedicated to transforming businesses. Our services span all facets of Digital Transformation, DevOps & Cloud, Integration, Automation, Low Code Application Development and AI-enabled services. Sandhata is a privately held IT services company with bases in the UK and India operating worldwide to help clients deliver a 'digital first' strategy. Sandhata is currently working with clients across various industry sectors, helping them to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions that streamline business processes and drive IT efficiency. The Role We are seeking a hands-on Head of AI Engineering & Innovation to lead Sandhata's AI practice, shape our AI strategy, drive innovation initiatives and support the delivery of AI-enabled services, products and tools for both Sandhata and our clients. This role combines technical leadership, coding, solution design, pre-sales support and thought leadership, requiring someone who is equally comfortable building AI solutions as they are presenting them to clients and internal stakeholders. Key Responsibilities Define and lead Sandhata's AI Engineering and Innovation strategy. Lead the AI & Innovation Engineering practice. Deliver Sandhata's AI-enabled client solutions, internal tools, platforms, products and innovation projects. Innovate and remain hands-on with coding, architecture, engineering and technical problem solving. Enable business development through proposals, pitches, workshops and client engagement. Role model as a thought leader on AI, innovation and emerging technologies. Mandatory Skills & Experience Proven experience leading AI engineering, innovation or AI product teams. Strong hands-on software engineering background with production-grade development experience. Strong Python skills, ideally including FastAPI. Strong AWS experience, including services such as Bedrock, Lambda, ECS/EKS, API Gateway and S3. Experience with LangChain, LangGraph, RAG, vector databases and multi-agent systems. Experience building APIs, platforms, tools and AI-enabled products. Familiarity with evaluation and observability tools such as Arize, Promptfoo, LangSmith or MLflow. Experience with red teaming, AI safety, testing and governance. Strong knowledge of CI/CD, DevOps, Docker and Kubernetes. Strong communication skills and experience supporting pre-sales and client engagements. Experience working in regulated sectors such as banking, telecoms or insurance. Preferred Skills Experience with Azure cloud and Azure AI services. Familiarity with AWS AgentCore. Experience with MLOps, monitoring and deployment tooling. Knowledge of knowledge graphs and graph databases. Experience with low code, automation and integration platforms. Familiarity with Front End technologies and product development practices. Experience building reusable accelerators and internal developer platforms. Exposure to enterprise architecture and solution design. Experience delivering innovation programmes or internal transformation initiatives. Behavioural Competencies Strong communicator who can simplify complex technical concepts. Commercially aware with a strong business mindset. Comfortable balancing strategic leadership with hands-on coding and technical delivery. Pragmatic, delivery-focused and able to work through ambiguity. Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills. What Success Looks like Sandhata has a credible and growing AI Engineering and Innovation Practice. AI services are recognised and commercially successful part of Sandhata's offering. Sandhata develops reusable AI tools, accelerators and internal capabilities. Clients see Sandhata as a trusted advisor for AI and innovation. Innovation initiatives deliver measurable value internally and for clients. Sandhata is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Sandhata Technologies Limited
Newbury, Berkshire
Role purpose: To provide hands-on Azure platform engineering expertise to accelerate the delivery of TaaZure (Telco-as-a-Service on Azure) platform capabilities. The role will be Embedded within Vodafone's engineering teams to co-deliver reusable, production-ready platform components, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD automation, observability, resilience and FinOps practices aligned to Vodafone's backlog and sprint cadence. The role will support secure, scalable and cost-effective cloud services while enabling knowledge transfer and coaching so Vodafone engineers can increasingly develop, operate and evolve TaaZure independently. Architectural ownership, design authority, programme governance and delivery management remain with Vodafone and separate governance arrangements. Key accountabilities and decision ownership: Provide hands-on engineering support to design, build and optimise TaaZure cloud platform capabilities, ensuring delivered components are secure, scalable, resilient and aligned to Vodafone engineering standards. Develop and maintain production-ready Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Terragrunt and Azure-native tooling, enabling repeatable, automated and governed cloud provisioning. Build and refine reusable Azure platform templates and engineering patterns that can be adopted consistently across TaaZure workloads and environments. Implement and improve CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, environment management and release practices for key platform services. Embed observability, monitoring, resilience, security and FinOps practices into platform components to improve reliability, cost transparency and operational readiness. Actively contribute to Vodafone's engineering backlog, sprint planning, refinement, delivery execution, reviews and technical demos in line with agreed priorities. Coach and pair with Vodafone engineers through day-to-day co-delivery, documentation and knowledge transfer, supporting increased internal capability to operate and extend TaaZure. Provide engineering input to architecture, security and operations discussions while recognising that architectural ownership, design authority and governance decisions remain with Vodafone and relevant governance forums. Core competencies, knowledge and experience: Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure services, including compute, networking, storage, identity, security, monitoring and platform services. Proven experience delivering cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code, preferably Terraform and Terragrunt, with strong understanding of modular, reusable and policy-driven implementation patterns. Experience building reusable Azure platform templates, golden paths or engineering patterns for repeatable platform adoption. Good understanding of DevOps and DevSecOps practices, including CI/CD, source control, automated testing, release management, security controls and environment governance. Experience operating Azure cloud-native services using observability, alerting, logging, performance monitoring, service reliability and incident response practices. Practical knowledge of cloud cost optimisation and FinOps principles, including cost visibility, tagging, right-sizing and efficient consumption patterns. Ability to work effectively as an Embedded third-party engineering consultant in a complex enterprise environment, communicating clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders and producing high-quality documentation. Expected deliverables: Production-ready Infrastructure as Code assets and reusable Azure platform templates. CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation for agreed TaaZure platform services. Observability, monitoring, resilience and FinOps integrations Embedded into delivered components. Technical documentation, engineering patterns and knowledge-transfer materials to support Vodafone engineer adoption. Regular progress input to sprint reviews, weekly checkpoints and prioritisation discussions. Key performance indicators: Delivery of agreed TaaZure platform outcomes to time, quality, security and compliance expectations. Production-ready IaC modules, reusable Azure platform templates and CI/CD pipelines delivered against prioritised backlog items. Reduction in manual effort and operational toil through automation, reusable patterns and improved engineering practices. Improved reliability, performance, observability, resilience and operational readiness of the TaaZure platform. Improved cost transparency and optimisation through consistent FinOps practices Embedded into platform components. Evidence of effective knowledge transfer, including documented patterns, pairing sessions, coaching outputs and increased ability of Vodafone engineers to maintain delivered components independently. Critical success factors and competencies for role: Strong Azure platform engineering expertise and ability to deliver production-ready outcomes with minimal supervision. Practical problem-solving mindset with a focus on secure, scalable, resilient and maintainable solutions. Ability to work effectively in an Embedded co-delivery model, aligned to Vodafone backlog priorities, sprint cadence and UK working hours. Strong collaboration skills across platform engineering, architecture, security, operations and delivery teams, with clear understanding of scope boundaries and governance responsibilities. Clear communication, documentation, coaching and knowledge-transfer capability. Ability to perform effectively under pressure and support incident, operational or delivery priorities when required. Commitment to continuous improvement, automation, cost optimisation, FinOps and engineering excellence.
Role purpose: To provide hands-on Azure platform engineering expertise to accelerate the delivery of TaaZure (Telco-as-a-Service on Azure) platform capabilities. The role will be Embedded within Vodafone's engineering teams to co-deliver reusable, production-ready platform components, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD automation, observability, resilience and FinOps practices aligned to Vodafone's backlog and sprint cadence. The role will support secure, scalable and cost-effective cloud services while enabling knowledge transfer and coaching so Vodafone engineers can increasingly develop, operate and evolve TaaZure independently. Architectural ownership, design authority, programme governance and delivery management remain with Vodafone and separate governance arrangements. Key accountabilities and decision ownership: Provide hands-on engineering support to design, build and optimise TaaZure cloud platform capabilities, ensuring delivered components are secure, scalable, resilient and aligned to Vodafone engineering standards. Develop and maintain production-ready Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Terragrunt and Azure-native tooling, enabling repeatable, automated and governed cloud provisioning. Build and refine reusable Azure platform templates and engineering patterns that can be adopted consistently across TaaZure workloads and environments. Implement and improve CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, environment management and release practices for key platform services. Embed observability, monitoring, resilience, security and FinOps practices into platform components to improve reliability, cost transparency and operational readiness. Actively contribute to Vodafone's engineering backlog, sprint planning, refinement, delivery execution, reviews and technical demos in line with agreed priorities. Coach and pair with Vodafone engineers through day-to-day co-delivery, documentation and knowledge transfer, supporting increased internal capability to operate and extend TaaZure. Provide engineering input to architecture, security and operations discussions while recognising that architectural ownership, design authority and governance decisions remain with Vodafone and relevant governance forums. Core competencies, knowledge and experience: Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure services, including compute, networking, storage, identity, security, monitoring and platform services. Proven experience delivering cloud infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code, preferably Terraform and Terragrunt, with strong understanding of modular, reusable and policy-driven implementation patterns. Experience building reusable Azure platform templates, golden paths or engineering patterns for repeatable platform adoption. Good understanding of DevOps and DevSecOps practices, including CI/CD, source control, automated testing, release management, security controls and environment governance. Experience operating Azure cloud-native services using observability, alerting, logging, performance monitoring, service reliability and incident response practices. Practical knowledge of cloud cost optimisation and FinOps principles, including cost visibility, tagging, right-sizing and efficient consumption patterns. Ability to work effectively as an Embedded third-party engineering consultant in a complex enterprise environment, communicating clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders and producing high-quality documentation. Expected deliverables: Production-ready Infrastructure as Code assets and reusable Azure platform templates. CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation for agreed TaaZure platform services. Observability, monitoring, resilience and FinOps integrations Embedded into delivered components. Technical documentation, engineering patterns and knowledge-transfer materials to support Vodafone engineer adoption. Regular progress input to sprint reviews, weekly checkpoints and prioritisation discussions. Key performance indicators: Delivery of agreed TaaZure platform outcomes to time, quality, security and compliance expectations. Production-ready IaC modules, reusable Azure platform templates and CI/CD pipelines delivered against prioritised backlog items. Reduction in manual effort and operational toil through automation, reusable patterns and improved engineering practices. Improved reliability, performance, observability, resilience and operational readiness of the TaaZure platform. Improved cost transparency and optimisation through consistent FinOps practices Embedded into platform components. Evidence of effective knowledge transfer, including documented patterns, pairing sessions, coaching outputs and increased ability of Vodafone engineers to maintain delivered components independently. Critical success factors and competencies for role: Strong Azure platform engineering expertise and ability to deliver production-ready outcomes with minimal supervision. Practical problem-solving mindset with a focus on secure, scalable, resilient and maintainable solutions. Ability to work effectively in an Embedded co-delivery model, aligned to Vodafone backlog priorities, sprint cadence and UK working hours. Strong collaboration skills across platform engineering, architecture, security, operations and delivery teams, with clear understanding of scope boundaries and governance responsibilities. Clear communication, documentation, coaching and knowledge-transfer capability. Ability to perform effectively under pressure and support incident, operational or delivery priorities when required. Commitment to continuous improvement, automation, cost optimisation, FinOps and engineering excellence.
