AI Engineering Manager
Ocho People | Technology Recruitment
At a Glance
• AI Engineering Manager role at one of the UK's leading AI and data businesses, trusted by major technology partners and delivering for government, healthcare and defence clients
• Lead a 150-strong AI and Data Practice delivering production-grade machine learning, generative AI and agentic AI at citizen scale
• Technical leadership, team management, stakeholder influence and hands-on AI engineering — all in one role
• Hybrid working
• Salary up to £130,000
Why This Organisation
Our client is one of the UK's leading AI and data businesses, with a decade-long track record of delivering production-grade AI solutions for clients across government, healthcare, defence and commercial sectors. They are recognised pioneers in responsible AI and are trusted by major cloud technology partners to deliver advanced AI and data solutions at citizen scale.
Their 150-strong AI and Data Practice brings together deep expertise across machine learning, generative AI, agentic AI and data engineering, working at the cutting edge of AI research and delivery. This is not a company that talks about AI — it is a company that has been building serious, production-grade AI systems for a decade and is continuing to grow that capability. For an AI engineering leader, the combination of reputation, client access, responsible AI credentials and genuine technical depth makes this one of the most compelling opportunities in the UK market right now.
The Role and What It Can Do For Your Career
This is an AI Engineering Manager position within the AI and Data Practice, responsible for the successful delivery of advanced AI solutions leveraging state-of-the-art machine learning, generative and agentic AI technologies. You will drive the adoption of modern AI frameworks and AIOps best practices, engage with senior stakeholders on architectural principles and strategic direction, and foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning and engineering excellence. You will also manage, coach and develop your team, build enduring client relationships and embed commercial thinking into how the team operates.
The career value at this level is the combination of technical depth, leadership scope and client impact. You will be delivering AI solutions at citizen scale for some of the most consequential organisations in the UK — government, healthcare, defence. The responsible AI credentials you will build here, the stakeholder relationships and the breadth of technical leadership across ML, GenAI and agentic systems make this a genuinely distinctive career move. At £130,000 the package reflects both the seniority and the calibre expected.
Key Responsibilities
• Lead multi-disciplinary teams to deliver AI and ML solutions to production across government, healthcare and commercial clients
• Drive the adoption of modern AI frameworks, AIOps best practices and scalable cloud native architectures
• Engage with senior and C-level stakeholders to agree architectural principles, strategic direction and system architecture
• Manage, coach and develop your team with a focus on engineering standards, continuous learning and commercial acumen
• Foster a culture of innovation and engineering excellence across the AI and Data Practice
• Build enduring customer relationships and contribute to shaping commercial AI offerings and pre-sales support
What You Will Need
Essential:
• Proven experience leading multi-disciplinary teams to deliver AI and ML solutions to production
• Demonstrable technical leadership for AI delivery including architecture, product design and engineering excellence
• Experience with modern AI engineering approaches including prompt engineering, RAG, agentic AI, model evaluation and monitoring
• Strong Python skills with a solid grounding in software engineering best practices including CI and CD, testing and code reviews
• Experience developing solutions at scale on cloud platforms including Azure and AWS, with containerisation and orchestration using Kubernetes and Docker
• Expertise in data engineering for AI including large-scale, unstructured and multimodal data
• Understanding of responsible AI principles, model interpretability and ethical considerations
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to lead client projects and manage C-level stakeholders
• Experience managing, coaching and developing junior team members
• Degree (2.1 or above) in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Statistics or a related quantitative field
Nice to Have:
• Experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow, and fine-tuning or distillation of LLMs including GPT, Llama, Claude or Gemini
• Experience with vector databases, semantic search and knowledge graphs
• Active contributions to open source AI projects, research publications or industry events
• Familiarity with AI security, privacy and compliance standards such as ISO42001
• Experience shaping commercial AI offerings and winning AI work through pre-sales support
Why You Should Apply Now
AI Engineering Manager roles at this level — with real team leadership, citizen-scale client impact, responsible AI credentials and a salary to match — are rare anywhere in the UK, let alone in Northern Ireland. Our client is genuinely one of the best places in the country to build a career in AI engineering leadership and the practice is growing. The timing is right.
Salary up to £130,000. Hybrid working.
