Job Title AI / ML Engineer Department Global Tech R&D-BG-UK Overview of Department The Innovation function i s tasked with seeking, proving and delivering transformational change across the firm and for our clients. The team has a firmwide, strategic, business-driven view, guided by the Innovation Board/Strategic Priorities Group. As a key part of Innovation, the R&D team’s aim is to look at challenges and opportunities holistically, with a strong focus on collaboration – both internal and external. We aim to draw experience, inspiration and support from myriad external sources: peers, disruptors, organisations we admire, expert networks, academia and entrepreneurs. We will also leverage SMEs from across our firm to ideate, experiment and deliver impactful change quickly and effectively. Innovation is a multi-disciplinary team which will be dynamic and adaptive, comprising a core of permanent staff, supported by a ‘community of practice’ and shared services who rotate in as, and augmented by external resources: consultancy, contractors and managed services. Our overriding mission is to future-proof Baillie Gifford’s operating model. Purpose of Role As an experienced AI/ML Engineer within the R&D Development team, you will thrive on solving challenging problems—from prototyping LLM-based automations to designing bespoke knowledge engineering systems. Whether you’re fresh from a PhD or a seasoned professional, you’ll blend deep research with hands-on engineering—advancing our research program on AI for long-term investing while delivering real-world proofs of concept. In short, this is an outlier opportunity to apply your AI expertise in a dynamic, high-impact setting. Here, you’ll grapple with deeply interesting problems that call for genuine creativity and experimentation, rather than focusing on a single narrow domain or simply copying patterns established elsewhere. You’ll see the direct impact of your work on real business challenges and help push the boundaries of AI in ways that significantly shape our firm’s future. Responsibilities Adapt & Refine Models : Build capabilities in training, tuning, and benchmarking large-scale models. Drive Diverse Prototyping : Rapidly develop proof-of-concepts through which you will gain deep business understanding as our work touches all areas of the firm. Explore Complex Research : Investigate advanced topics like long-horizon reward functions and architecting knowledge systems for more effective investment insights. Collaborate & Influence : Work closely with senior stakeholders, R&D peers, and external experts; communicate our findings to drive change. Champion Innovation : Push the boundaries of what’s possible with large language models, transforming traditional workflows into cutting-edge solutions that future-proof our operations Your Skills and Experience Deep ML Expertise : Hands-on model training and fine-tuning experience—academic or industry. Proficiency with frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, etc. Knowledge Engineering & LLMs : Familiarity with unstructured data, language models, and modern generative AI. You’ve built application on top of the foundation labs’ APIs and you have opinions about how to get the best from them. Research Mindset : Comfortable with hypothesis testing, iterative experimentation, and blending theoretical insights with pragmatic solutions. Engineering Fundamentals : Strong Python, data wrangling, and version control skills; containerization, CI/CD, and cloud experience beneficial. Qualifications STEM PhD with ML exposure (preferrable) The Type of Candidate that we're looking for A natural problem solver, creative in approach, you're driven by first-principles thinking, capable of turning radical ideas into tangible prototypes. You're collaborative, you enjoy and appreciate the value of brainstorming across teams, welcoming diverse perspectives and elevating others through mentorship. You're a pragmatic innovator who balances rigorous research with real-world constraints; you value delivering impactful solutions over theoretical purity. Naturally resilient and flexible, you embrace rapid iteration, you pivot readily and see 'failed' experiences as opportunities to learn. Critical Skills Team working Improvement Mindset Adaptability Systems Thinking Closing Date May 13, 2025 At Baillie Gifford we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful culture in which each of our colleagues can thrive and develop. We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse workforce with the experiences, ideas and perspectives that this brings. If you are currently working at Baillie Gifford as an employee or contractor please apply to this job from the firm's Workday internal career site.