Principal Engineer | Head Of Engineering

Title: Principal Forward Deployed Engineer – AI & Customer-Facing Technical Leader Location: Remote Travel: Customer visits 4–5 days/month; occasional team gatherings Salary: €120–£170k base + package discussion Tech: Python, JavaScript, Azure, AWS, AI, LLM's, RAG Industry: AI Consultancy The Role We’re looking for talented Principal-level Forward Deployed Engineers to join our customer-facing AI practice. You’ll work directly with clients to uncover problems, build prototypes, and guide full AI-enabled solution lifecycles. This is a role for engineers who: Enjoy building real software that makes a difference Are passionate about AI and its practical application Thrive at the intersection of technical leadership and client engagement What You’ll Do Customer-Facing Leadership Lead discovery workshops with technical and business stakeholders Represent the organisation’s technical capabilities in high-stakes client meetings Build trust and long-term relationships with engineering teams and decision-makers Solution Development & Architecture Build and iterate working AI prototypes quickly Architect scalable, maintainable systems from prototype to production Make sophisticated technical decisions balancing AI innovation, quality, and deployment needs Technical Mentorship & Team Growth Guide engineers through technical delivery, code reviews, and architectural discussions Elevate team capabilities through knowledge sharing, mentoring, and internal workshops Contribute to best practices, reusable components, and solution standards AI Mastery & Innovation Implement AI solutions leveraging LLMs, foundation models, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems Design evaluation frameworks addressing bias, hallucination detection, and business impact Explore novel AI applications while integrating traditional ML techniques where appropriate Who We’re Looking For For Principal Engineers: ~8+ years delivering complex, enterprise-grade software ~ Full-stack development capability across modern technologies ~ Client-facing experience or technical consulting skills ~ AI curiosity and hands-on experimentation with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, GitHub Copilot ~ Proven AI/ML expertise with production deployment experience ~ Advanced knowledge of transformer architectures, foundation models, and prompt engineering ~ Senior stakeholder engagement experience and ability to lead high-level AI strategy