Join Kainos and Shape the Future
At Kainos, we’re problem solvers, innovators, and collaborators – driven by a shared mission to create real impact. Whether we’re transforming digital services for millions, delivering cutting‑edge Workday solutions, or pushing the boundaries of technology, we do it together.
We believe in a people‑first culture, where ideas are valued, growth is supported, and contributions truly make a difference. Here, you’ll be part of a diverse, ambitious team that celebrates creativity and collaboration.
Job Profile Description
Kainos is recognised as one of the UK’s leading AI and data businesses, with a decade‑long track record of delivering impactful, production‑grade AI solutions for clients across government, healthcare, defence, and commercial sectors. Our 150‑strong AI and Data Practice brings together expertise in machine learning, generative AI, agentic AI and data. We are pioneers in responsible AI, having authored the UK government’s AI Cyber Security Code of Practice implementation guide, and we partner with leading organisations to ensure AI is deployed ethically, securely and with measurable business value.
Main Purpose of the Role & Responsibilities
As a Lead AI Engineer at Kainos, you will architect, design, and deliver advanced AI solutions leveraging state‑of‑the‑art machine learning, generative and agentic AI technologies. You will drive the adoption of modern AI frameworks, AIOps best practices and scalable cloud‑native architectures. Your role will involve hands‑on technical leadership, collaborating with customers to translate business challenges into responsible AI solutions, and ensuring responsible AI practices throughout. As a technical mentor, you will foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and engineering excellence. This fast‑paced environment requires sound, reasoned decisions while learning about new technologies and approaches. You will manage, coach and develop a small team, focusing on employee performance and career development, and providing direction for solving challenging problems together.
Minimum (essential) Requirements
* A minimum of a 2.1 degree in Computer Science, AI, Data Science, Statistics or a similar quantitative field.
* Demonstrable experience deploying modern AI/ML solutions into production, including prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), model evaluation, and monitoring using metrics (e.g. precision, recall, NDCG and drift detection).
* Strong Python skills with grounding in software engineering best practices (CI/CD, testing, code reviews etc).
* Experience developing solutions at scale on cloud platforms (Azure & AWS), containerisation and orchestration tools such as Kubernetes and Docker.
* Expertise in data engineering for AI: handling 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 establish requirements in non‑technical language.
* Experience managing, coaching, and developing junior members of a team and the wider community.
Desirable
* Experience with deep learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, TensorFlow), fine‑tuning or distillation of LLMs (e.g., GPT, Llama, Claude, Gemini) and machine learning libraries (e.g., scikit‑learn, XGBoost).
* Experience with data storage for AI, vector databases, semantic search, and knowledge graphs.
* Contributions to open‑source AI projects or research publications.
* Familiarity with AI security, privacy, and compliance standards e.g. ISO42001.
Embracing Our Differences
At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive. We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are.
Our friendly talent acquisition team is here to support you every step of the way. If you require accommodations or adjustments, we encourage you to reach out. We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.
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