Applied AI Engineer - Senior to Principal

The Incubator for AI (i.AI) is a high agency technical unit within the UK government, focused on pioneering transformative AI applications for the public sector.

Applied AI Engineers of all experience levels are needed to build products that leverage state of the art methods to solve real world problems for the public sector.

• Rapidly prototype AI solutions to test hypotheses and de risk new ideas, designing and developing products that use the latest models.
• Train, scaffold and adapt models in applied settings, implementing rigorous evaluation methodologies and defining metrics for real world performance (accuracy, robustness, latency, cost, fairness).
• Stay up to date with recent advances in AI, assess applicability to products, and iterate on models based on experimental results, user feedback and production observations.
• Translate ambiguous product and government problems into well defined AI tasks; work closely with Product Managers to define technical architectures and implement them.
• Select appropriate modelling approaches (classical ML, deep learning, foundation models, prompting, fine tuning) based on data, constraints and desired outcomes.

• Proven experience rapidly developing and shipping AI products or models in fast paced environments.
• Experience building benchmarks and datasets to train/evaluate AI systems or agents in production settings.
• Experience with AI infrastructure (model deployment, optimisation, data processing) and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP).
• Hands on experience with a range of AI concepts such as LLMs, VLMs, RAG, agents, MCP, computer vision, GraphML, recommendation systems or reinforcement learning.
• Familiarity with ML frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.) and strong proficiency in Python and data structures and algorithms.
• Engineering excellence - writing high quality, maintainable code and an open source or research publishing track record.
• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics or related field, or equivalent industry experience.
• Ability to work in agile, user centred environments with an entrepreneurial mindset and ability to navigate ambiguity.

Candidates at all levels are considered. Senior candidates should additionally demonstrate deep expertise at a frontier lab, technical ownership of production grade AI systems, mentoring experience, and the ability to identify high value opportunities and mitigate technical, ethical and safety risks.

• Career defining projects with significant impact.
• Access to frontier models and ample compute.
• Extensive operational, product, strategy and design support.
• Collaboration with experts across national security, policy, AI research and adjacent sciences.
• Personal growth opportunities, ownership of important products early, and a supportive mission driven culture.
• Learning and development support: paid leave, annual stipends, conference funding.
• Contract: 24 month fixed term with hybrid working and pay equivalent equipment stipends.
• Generous leave: 25 days plus one additional day per year of service, plus 39 weeks full pay parental leave.
• Pension: employer contributes 28.97% of base salary.
• Other benefits: discounts for cycling, dental insurance, donations and gym memberships.

Annual salaries range from £85,000 to £145,000, consisting of a base salary plus a technical allowance. Salary level depends on role scope and experience.

Applicants must successfully complete UK Government SC clearance (sponsorable) and generally meet residency requirements. The selection involves a short initial conversation, a technical take home test, and subsequent interviews with technical and senior team members.

The Civil Service is committed to attracting, retaining and investing in talent wherever it is found. All candidates are encouraged to apply.