Head of AI Engineering
About this role
Are you an AI Engineering leader ready to shape the future of enterprise-scale AI delivery while building and leading high-performing teams?
As Head of AI Engineering, you’ll lead and grow the AI Engineering capability across our Data & AI Practice. You’ll play a key role in shaping the future of how we deliver AI solutions, working closely with senior leadership to drive excellence across engineering, delivery, and innovation. This is a highly visible leadership position where you’ll balance hands-on technical leadership with strategic oversight, helping clients solve complex challenges using cutting-edge AI approaches.
We can offer great career progression opportunities, ability to be based anywhere across the UK, benefits which you can flex to meet your needs, and training and development opportunities. This role is UK-wide, with travel to London 1–2 times a month for team collaboration, client meetings, or key events.
What you'll be doing:
- Leading, developing, and growing the AI Engineering capability, building a high-performing team through recruitment, coaching, and mentoring.
- Owning technical delivery excellence across AI and GenAI engagements, ensuring quality, scalability, security, and customer satisfaction.
- Establishing engineering standards, delivery methodologies, tooling, and best practices across AI Engineering, MLOps, LLMOps, DevSecOps, and cloud-native delivery.
- Providing technical leadership and governance on complex programmes, supporting delivery assurance, technical risk management, and recovery where needed.
- Partnering with the Practice CTO and solutioning teams to support bids, proposals, and client engagements, including shaping technical approaches and estimates.
- Acting as a recognised thought leader, representing the practice in client forums, industry events, and contributing to market propositions and innovation.
What you’ll bring:
- Strong experience leading AI-focused software engineering teams within a consulting environment.
- Deep expertise across AI and GenAI technologies, including LLMs, AI agents, agentic AI, RAG, machine learning, full stack development, and hyperscaler AI platforms.
- Proven ability to deliver enterprise-scale AI solutions into live operational environments while managing technical delivery teams.
- Experience establishing engineering standards, modern delivery practices, and driving adoption of MLOps, LLMOps, and DevSecOps.
- Experience supporting bids, proposals, estimations, and providing technical governance across programmes.
- Confidence engaging senior stakeholders, translating complex technical concepts into clear business outcomes.
It would be great if you had:
- Experience contributing to thought leadership, client workshops, or industry events within AI Engineering.
- Experience shaping AI propositions or supporting go-to-market strategies in a consulting environment.
If you’re interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we’re looking for, please do apply, we’d love to hear from you!
Employment Type: Full-time, Permanent.
Location: UK Wide – with travel to London 1–2 times a month.
Security Clearance Level: SC Eligible.
Internal Recruiter: Annecia.
Salary: Dependent on experience.
Benefits: £6,600 car allowance, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy additional days, private medical, life assurance, pension, and generous flexible benefits fund.
Although this role is advertised as full-time, we believe that flexibility at work can promote work/life balance, increase your motivation, reduce stress and improves performance and productivity. We support different ways of working and can offer a range of flexible working arrangements. So, if you’re interested and need to work flexibly, we encourage you to apply and talk to us about what might be possible.
Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us?
With a long history of delivering transformation, we've developed a market-leading partnership ecosystem to provide business services of the future and shape valuable, positive outcomes for communities. We empower our clients by providing innovative solutions and commercial models that help them meet their business needs, drive operational efficiencies, and deliver impactful value creation. We remain committed to values of excellence, empathy and respect to produce transformative outcomes in business processing – creating value for all.
Company at a glance
Sopra Steria, a major Tech player in Europe with 51,000 employees in nearly 30 countries, is recognised for its consulting, digital services and solutions. It helps its clients drive their digital transformation and obtain tangible and sustainable benefits. The Group provides end-to-end solutions to make large companies and organisations more competitive by combining in-depth knowledge of a wide range of business sectors and innovative technologies with a collaborative approach. Sopra Steria places people at the heart of everything it does and is committed to putting digital to work for its clients in order to build a positive future for all. In 2024, the Group generated revenues of €5.8 billion.
The world is how we shape it
Top Benefits
- Car Allowance
- Annual Leave
- Option To Buy Additional Days
- Private Medical
- Life Assurance
- Pension
- Flexible Benefits Fund
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