Lead AI Engineer

Position: Lead AI Engineer

Location: United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, Sweden, Italy

Employment Type: Full-time

Job Overview

We are seeking an experienced AI technologist to join our AI Investigation and Incubation team. This is a hands‑on engineering lead role, focused on investigating, prototyping, and validating emerging AI technologies to drive innovation and real‑world solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Evaluate emerging AI technologies with a clear focus on practical applicability and deployability
• Investigate, develop, fine‑tune, evaluate, and benchmark AI/ML models
• Design, build, and iterate on working prototypes, proof‑of‑concepts, and pilots
• Assess AI approaches for scalability, reliability, cost, security, and operational feasibility
• Make and document AI investigation and architectural decisions related to model deployment and integration
• Collaborate closely with cross‑functional teams to ensure AI proofs‑of‑concept, prototypes, and pilots can transition to later stage development and/or downstream products
• Clearly document findings and present actionable recommendations to technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Mentor and coach junior team members

Essential Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in AI/ML engineering, or equivalent industry experience with at least 4 years in a technical lead position
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Engineering, or a related technical field; advanced degree preferred
• Proven track record leading and delivering large‑scale AI/ML incubations or complex deep‑tech cross‑functional initiatives with measurable outcomes
• Expertise in Python and deep experience with deep learning frameworks (e.g., Jax, TensorFlow, PyTorch) and state‑of‑the‑art ML techniques (building, training, evaluating, deploying ML models)
• Practical experience with modern AI paradigms such as world models, foundation models, and multi‑modal language models; agent‑based systems and orchestration; and context retrieval and augmentation techniques
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills; can articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences, including senior leadership
• Experience in industrial, IoT, manufacturing, energy, or asset‑intensive domains
• Ability to connect AI capabilities to practical industrial or enterprise use cases

Desired Skills And Competencies

• Exposure to AI governance, security, or compliance considerations
• Experience deploying ML models in cloud environments (Azure preferred, AWS acceptable)
• Familiarity with MLOps practices (model versioning, evaluation, monitoring, iteration)
• Experience working with non‑ideal, real‑world data rather than curated research datasets
• Experience working in both enterprise and start‑up environments
• Interest in supporting technical and scientific publications on AI research

What Success Looks Like

• AI concepts progress beyond research into validated, working prototypes and pilots
• Technical investigations result in clear go/no‑go recommendations
• Prototypes and pilots demonstrate feasibility for real‑world deployment, not just benchmark performance
• Strong collaboration with cross‑functional technical and non‑technical teams to enable transition into later stage development, where appropriate
• Ability to meaningfully influence AI roadmaps and technology direction through evidence‑backed work

Benefits (UK)

Flexible benefits fund, emergency leave days, adoption leave, 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays), pension, life cover, private medical insurance, parental leave, education assistance program. It’s possible we’re hiring for this position in multiple countries, in which case the above benefits apply to the primary location. Specific benefits vary by country, but our packages are similarly comprehensive.

Equal Opportunity Employer

AVEVA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to being an exemplary employer with an inclusive culture, developing a workplace environment where all our employees are treated with dignity and respect. We value diversity and the expertise that people from different backgrounds bring to our business. AVEVA provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify your recruiter. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case‑by‑case basis.

All successful applicants will be required to undergo and pass a drug screening and comprehensive background check before employment.