AI Lead Developer

AI Lead Developer Contract type: B2B Location: Full Remote Role Overview: Define and guide the technical direction for your squad, taking ownership of key architectural decisions, mitigating technical risks, and representing engineering in Architecture Review Board discussions. Lead the development of AI-driven products by designing and implementing LLM workflows, RAG pipelines, and agent-based features that operate reliably in production at scale. Champion the adoption of AI-assisted development tools across the entire software development lifecycle—from initial planning and design to code reviews, testing, and deployment—while setting high standards for engineering practices within the team. Build and deliver high-quality, production-ready solutions across the full stack, including backend systems in Node.js or Python, event-driven architectures on AWS, and frontend components using React when required. Support the growth of engineers across AI and full-stack areas through mentorship, code reviews, architectural discussions, and hands-on collaboration. Work closely with platform teams to leverage shared capabilities and contribute reusable solutions, avoiding unnecessary duplication and encouraging consistency across systems. Ensure that all delivered solutions are designed with compliance in mind, fully auditable, and aligned with the standards required for software in FCA-regulated financial environments. What We're Looking For: An experienced engineer with over 10 years in the field, including substantial experience building and maintaining AI/ML systems in production environments. Demonstrated technical leadership, with a track record of setting direction, making architectural decisions, mentoring team members, and shaping how engineering teams operate. Strong hands-on expertise with AI and LLM technologies, including prompt engineering, RAG architectures, model evaluation, and agent frameworks, with practical production experience. Deep proficiency in either Node.js or Python, along with solid working knowledge of the other, and the flexibility to choose the right tool for each problem. Strong experience with cloud-native development on AWS, including serverless and event-driven architectures and a focus on building scalable, maintainable systems. A proactive interest in emerging AI trends, combined with the ability to critically evaluate and adopt the most relevant technologies.