Advert
TheData/AI Engineer(KTP Associate) will be an employee of Glasgow Caledonian University but will be based at Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH)with regular supervision meetings with the University’s supervisory team
This is a full time/fixed term opportunity for 24 months
Interviews for this role will take place on 24 July
An additional £4, training and development budget is available for this opportunity
The Role
The purpose of this role is to design, develop, and implement an AI-driven triaging system that enhances referral processes and provides personalised outcomes and support within Scotland’s national mental health charity, Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH). The project will leverage large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning techniques to improve the efficiency and accuracy of mental health service referrals. By embedding AI expertise within SAMH, this project will contribute to enhancing accessibility to mental health support while ensuring ethical AI deployment in line with best practices in transparency and bias mitigation.
The successful candidate will play a key role in leading the technical development, implementation, and evaluation of the AI system. They will be responsible for coordinating the day-to-day delivery of the project in collaboration with SAMH, Glasgow Caledonian University, and a Psychology Associate, who will provide clinical insights and user requirements. The postholder will ensure that the system meets operational, ethical, and governance standards while working closely with stakeholders to refine AI recommendations and user interactions. They will also oversee data management, model performance evaluation, and system deployment, ensuring the solution is robust, interpretable, and aligned with SAMH’s needs.
The postholder will be based at SAMH, working closely with mental health professionals, service users, and AI experts to develop a practical and user-friendly AI-driven solution that will aim to transform the current state of mental health access in Scotland. They will also benefit from academic support and supervision from Glasgow Caledonian University, providing access to a strong research environment in AI, data science, and ethical AI practices. This role offers the opportunity to engage in knowledge transfer, industry collaboration, and ongoing professional development, with funding available for training and conference participation.
We are seeking an AI or Data Engineer with a postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline, such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, or Computer Science. The successful candidate will have strong programming skills in Python (or similar) and practical experience with machine learning frameworks, along with a solid understanding of data science techniques such as data preprocessing, feature engineering, and evaluation metrics including precision, recall, F1-score, and ROC-AUC. They will have hands-on experience in designing, fine-tuning, and deploying large language models (LLMs) such as Llama 2, including the integration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for AI chatbot applications. Excellent written communication skills are essential, including the ability to produce concise, accessible materials for non-technical audiences.
We would particularly welcome applicants with industry experience in developing intelligent systems that support decision-making using supervised and unsupervised learning, and with a clear understanding of ethical AI principles, including fairness, transparency, and bias mitigation.
Additional desirable experience includes managing data pipelines that involve data ingestion, transformation, integration, and cloud-based storage; deploying AI systems using cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), containerisation (Docker), API endpoints, and model inference optimisation; and working within the health, social care, or third sectors (D5), particularly in collaboration with senior leadership or communities to co-design solutions aligned with organisational needs.
This is an exciting opportunity to apply cutting-edge AI research to a real-world mental health setting, working directly with service providers to improve access to and efficiency of mental health referrals and an individual’s care pathway. The role offers the chance to have an impact on addressing Scotland’s worsening mental health crisis while developing industry-relevant expertise in applied AI, ethical AI governance, digital health and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The role will be best suited to applicants who have strong self-management skills and enjoy the autonomy creative freedom that such a role would bring.
Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH)
Around since , Scottish Action for Mental Health (SAMH) is Scotland's national mental health charity. We operate over 70 services that inform our policy and campaign work to influence positive social change. Our vision is to address the rising demand for mental health support and reduce the strain on existing health systems, by providing innovative solutions to re-think pathways for the public to gain immediate, targeted access to mental health support. Our main area of focus is to develop a digital mental health system and AI triage tool to enhance the effectiveness of SAMH's place-based and online mental health services, whilst deploying innovative data analysis techniques to understand the needs of the nation.
You will have the opportunity to join an agile, creative and ambitious organisation who is placing innovation at the heart of its new strategy. Although based in Glasgow city centre, you will have the ability to engage with our services across Scotland as well as our external partners including Scottish Government, NHS, Health and Social Care Partnerships, Innovation Centres and other private and third sector partners.
There is a possibility that SAMH may recruit the Associate at the end of the project.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership
This project is part of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme that aims to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. Successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership projects are funded by UK Research and Innovation through Innovate UK and are part of the government’s Industrial Strategy. KTP Associates spend around 10% of their time in training and development and are offered the opportunity to gain a Diploma in Management. You will be employed by the University, but your role will be based at the company. Many KTP Associates are offered a permanent role with their company at the end of the KTP project. To find out how KTP works and the vital role you will play if you successfully secure a KTP Associate position. Please visit: .
Glasgow Caledonian University is committed to a fair and transparent recruitment process that is free from bias so that we can attract and retain a high performing workforce which makes a critical contribution to our success.
The University holds the prestigious Athena SWAN Silver institution award, which recognises our significant record of activity and achievement in promoting gender equality across different disciplines.
The School of Computing, Engineering and Built Environment is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, and is one of only two such Schools in Scotland to hold the prestigious Athena SWAN Silver Award for promoting gender equality and women’s careers in STEMM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine) and allied STEMM subjects (surveying, environment and management of all themes) in higher education.
As a Disability Confident 'Committed' employer, we are striving to ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to disabled people. Although the Disability Confident 'Committed' level does not guarantee an interview for disabled applicants, we will make reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants during the recruitment process.
The University also holds the Carer Positive ‘Engaged’ employer award, which recognises our commitment to supporting staff with caring responsibilities.
Glasgow Caledonian University are committed signatories to the
