AI Engineer

AI Engineer (Permanent) Must be a British Citizen due to the nature of the company and work required Salary: £(phone number removed) per annum Employment type: Permanent Working pattern: On-site

Our client, a growing maritime technology and defence business, is seeking an AI Engineer to help design, develop and deploy secure AI capabilities across the organisation. This role will focus on practical AI adoption across Engineering, Production, Manufacturing, IT & Security and wider corporate functions improving productivity, decision-making, access to information and operational efficiency.

The role

Design, prototype, deploy and support secure AI applications, assistants, agents, knowledge systems and workflow automations using approved Microsoft, cloud-hosted and local platforms
Develop retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), semantic search and knowledge-management solutions, connecting AI safely to approved systems, documents, databases and APIs
Design, deploy and govern Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, clients and tools to securely connect AI applications to approved business systems and data
Implement safeguards: authentication, least-privilege permissions, input validation, audit logging and human approval for sensitive actions
Evaluate AI models, platforms, suppliers and use cases for accuracy, security, privacy, data residency, performance, cost and long-term supportability
Help define and maintain AI governance, risk assessments and technical standards
Apply secure-by-design controls including data classification, encryption, secrets management, role-based access, and separation of dev/test/prod environments
Protect against AI-related risks (data leakage, prompt injection, malicious content, insecure outputs, unsafe tool use, excessive agent permissions)
Monitor AI services for unusual activity, failures and unexpected behaviour
Support and improve relevant business systems where needed to enable AI adoption and operational improvement
Deploy/configure/manage secure AI applications and supporting services across Linux systems, containers and virtual machines, including monitoring, patching, backup and recovery

What we're looking for

Practical experience designing, developing, deploying or supporting AI-enabled applications, integrations and workflow automations
Working knowledge of LLMs, RAG, semantic search, AI agents and Model Context Protocol
Experience deploying and operating applications across Linux systems, containers and virtual machines
Experience of monitoring, patching, backup and recovery within application environments
Experience working with APIs, structured data, system integrations, authentication and role-based access control
Familiarity with source control and automation/scripting
Understanding of secure development, AI governance, information security, data protection, auditability and responsible AI principles
Strong analytical/troubleshooting skills with clear communication and documentation

Benefits

25 days holiday per year, plus paid bank holidays
Additional annual leave after 2 years' service (up to 5 extra days)
Holiday buy/sell (up to 5 days per calendar year)
Flexi working (core hours 10:00-15:00, subject to departmental requirements)
Private Medical Insurance (optional family cover)
Pension scheme (5% employer contribution)
Life assurance (3x salary)
Group Income Protection
Health Care Cash Plan
Cycle to Work Scheme
Electric Car Scheme
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Professional membership reimbursement