Lead AI Engineer

We're hiring a Lead AI Engineer to own the design and delivery of AI systems across the business. This is a hands on role focused on building production grade solutions using LLMs and agentic systems, embedding AI directly into core business processes rather than building isolated prototypes. You'll take high value problems and turn them into scalable, reliable systems used in real workflows, driving measurable business outcomes. You'll have ownership of technical direction, architecture, and implementation, translating defined business priorities into robust, production ready systems. You'll make key technical decisions and work hands on alongside engineers to deliver solutions that are reusable, scalable, and built for long term impact.

Own the technical direction, architecture, and implementation of AI systems end to end. Design and build LLM powered and agent based solutions from concept to production. Establish engineering standards, patterns, and reusable components across use cases. Own key technical decisions on models, tooling, infrastructure, and system design. Ensure systems are robust, observable, and production ready (evaluation, monitoring, guardrails). Provide technical leadership and direction to engineers contributing to AI initiatives.

• Proven track record of owning the technical direction and delivery of production grade AI systems end to end
• Experience designing and delivering complex AI systems across multiple use cases or domains
• Deep expertise in generative AI / LLMs, including orchestration, prompting, and evaluation
• Experience building agentic or multi step AI systems
• Strong software engineering fundamentals including APIs, system design, and cloud based architectures
• Ability to drive technical direction in ambiguous or fast moving problem spaces
• Experience influencing engineering standards and practices across multiple projects

• Experience building AI platforms or reusable frameworks and patterns
• Familiarity with LLMOps / MLOps and production evaluation practice
• Experience embedding AI into core business processes or enterprise systems
• Experience working in large scale or regulated enterprise environments

• 26 days holiday, rising to 30 with service
• A holiday buy scheme (up to 5 extra days)
• Double matched pension, with up to 14% from NewDay
• Generous annual performance bonuses
• Private medical insurance with Bupa, including mental health support and cancer care
• 26 weeks paid maternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• Free breakfast and lunch in the office every day, provided by our in house chefs

At NewDay, we value all types of diversity. We're an equal opportunity employer and believe that our differences create a vibrant, authentic working culture. We want all our colleagues to feel able to bring their whole selves to work. We don't discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics or identities. We make sure that every job is crafted to be inclusive and that people with disabilities or caring responsibilities can take part in the application and interview process. Tell us if you need accommodations: We'll put reasonable adjustments in place to support you. We work with Textio to make our job design and hiring inclusive.

Permanent. We help people move forward with credit and help our colleagues to move their careers forward too. Through innovative consumer credit and embedded finance products powered by groundbreaking technology, we deliver over 300 million transactions every year. Our brands include Aqua, Marbles, Fluid, Bip and NewPay. We partner with leading brands such as AO, Argos, Boohoo, John Lewis and Lloyds Bank. Over 5 million UK customers are supported by our award winning customer service.