Lead AI Engineer

Our client is a major European ecommerce group operating a portfolio of consumer brands across 90+ international markets. Having already invested heavily in data, technology and digital transformation, the business is now making a significant investment in AI and has launched a brand-new AI Innovation Hub to lead that evolution.

This is a rare opportunity to join at the beginning of that journey and help shape how AI is adopted across a large international ecommerce business.

Role Overview

• The first AI Engineer hire within the newly established AI Innovation Hub
• You’ll help shape the AI strategy, influence the technical roadmap and build production-grade AI products that solve real business problems.
• This is a highly visible role with direct exposure to senior leadership and the opportunity to influence both what gets built and how it gets built.
• The environment is fast-moving, highly collaborative and focused on execution rather than experimentation for experimentation’s sake.

Scope of Role

• Design, build and deploy AI-powered products and applications
• Develop production-grade LLM solutions and agentic workflows
• Build RAG architectures and knowledge retrieval systems
• Integrate AI applications with internal platforms, tools and business systems
• Identify opportunities where AI can create measurable commercial impact
• Partner with senior stakeholders across product, technology and commercial teams
• Help define the long-term AI architecture and engineering standards
• Evaluate emerging technologies and determine where they can create competitive advantage

The Opportunity

• Help build an AI function from the ground up
• Significant ownership and influence from day one
• Greenfield environment with freedom to shape the roadmap
• Exposure to senior leadership and strategic initiatives
• Work across multiple brands, products and business challenges
• Opportunity to build AI products that create real-world impact at scale

Your Experience

• Strong software engineering foundations
• Experience building and deploying AI products into production environments
• Python and modern backend engineering experience
• Experience with LLMs, RAG architectures and agentic AI systems
• MCP or similar protocols for connecting AI systems with tools and external services
• Strong product thinking and commercial awareness
• Experience operating within high-growth, scale-up or rapidly evolving environments
• Ability to balance technical excellence with business outcomes

Compensation

• Up to £150,000 + Bonus + Benefits
• Hybrid or remote working available (based on candidate preference)

If you’re excited by the opportunity to build AI products from the ground up, influence strategy from day one and see your work deployed across a global ecommerce organisation, please apply today.