Principal AI Engineer

Principal AI Engineer

Location: London, UK Wide (50% Remote)

Inside / Outside IR35: Inside IR35

Duration: 6 Month Contract

A bit about the job

We are looking for an experienced Principal AI Engineer to provide technical leadership across some of Aviva’s most complex and business-critical AI initiatives.

This is a senior individual contributor role with significant autonomy and enterprise-wide influence. You’ll act as a technical authority for AI engineering, shaping how AI solutions are designed, built, evaluated and operated at scale.

You’ll take ownership of technical design and delivery assurance for complex AI systems, including multi-agent and agentic solutions, while establishing the engineering standards, architectural patterns and reusable capabilities that enable teams to deliver high-quality, responsible AI.

A key part of the role will be ensuring that AI solutions deliver genuine business value while meeting the necessary requirements around safety, security, resilience, regulatory compliance and customer outcomes. You’ll work closely with engineering, architecture, product, risk, legal and compliance teams, providing expert technical challenge and helping to identify and manage systemic AI and model risks.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in shaping AI engineering capability within a major enterprise, combining hands-on technical expertise with strategic influence.

Skills and experience we're looking for

• Proven experience operating at Principal Engineer, Lead AI Engineer, Staff+ Engineer or equivalent senior technical level within a complex technology environment.
• Expert-level knowledge of AI engineering, including the design and operation of complex, distributed and agent-based AI systems.
• Strong software engineering background, with demonstrable experience developing production-quality code within modern AI delivery environments.
• Hands-on experience designing and delivering production AI/ML systems at enterprise scale.
• Strong understanding of generative AI, LLMs, multi-agent systems and agentic AI architectures.
• Deep understanding of AI evaluation, testing, monitoring and assurance, including how to establish robust measures for performance, safety, quality and reliability.
• Experience developing or implementing AI engineering standards, reference architectures, design patterns and reusable engineering capabilities.
• Strong understanding of cloud-native architecture and the operational requirements of running AI workloads at scale.
• Experience making complex technical and architectural decisions, balancing factors such as cost, scalability, resilience, security, performance and compliance.
• Experience assessing emerging AI technologies and translating research and innovation into practical recommendations and enterprise adoption strategies.
• Strong understanding of the risks associated with AI systems and experience putting appropriate technical controls, governance and risk mitigation in place.
• Experience working within regulated environments, with an understanding of areas such as responsible AI, data privacy, GDPR and regulatory expectations.
• Ability to provide independent technical challenge and assurance across multiple delivery teams and initiatives.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex AI concepts and technical risks to both technical and non-technical senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrable experience influencing technology strategy and engineering practices without direct line-management responsibility.
• A strong track record of technical leadership, mentoring, knowledge sharing and building engineering capability across an organisation.
• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Relevant professional certifications or evidence of continuous learning in AI, cloud or software engineering would be advantageous.
• Demonstrable track record of leading the technical delivery of complex AI solutions from design through to production.

Please ensure that you attach an up-to-date CV to your application.

We’re inclusive and welcome everyone – we want applications from all backgrounds and experiences. Excited but not sure you tick every box? Even if you don’t, we would still encourage you to apply. We also consider all forms of flexible working, including part-time and job shares. We flex locations, hours and working patterns to suit our customers, business, and you. Most of our people are smart working – spending at least 50% of their time in our offices every week – combining the benefits of flexibility, with time together with colleagues.

We'd love it if you could submit your application online. If you require an alternative method of applying, or if you have any queries in relation to the vacancy, you can email charlie.caudwell@randstadsourceright.co.uk.