Machine Learning Engineer

Job Title: Senior ML/AI Engineer

Location: Newcastle

Salary: Up to £160,000 DOE

This is an exciting opportunity for a Senior Machine Learning & AI Engineer to join a growing technology team delivering advanced AI capabilities within the Defence and National Security sector. Working alongside highly skilled engineers and technical specialists, you will play a key role in developing and deploying machine learning and large language model (LLM) solutions that address complex real-world challenges.

This is a hands-on engineering role within a collaborative, technology-driven environment where you will have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI systems, influence technical direction, and contribute to projects with meaningful impact.

The Role

You will design, develop, and deploy machine learning and AI solutions across a variety of challenging technical programmes. Working closely with software engineers, data engineers, and platform specialists, you will build scalable, secure, and production-ready systems while helping to shape engineering best practices and technical standards.

Requirements

• A minimum 2:1 degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, or another quantitative discipline
• At least 3 years' commercial experience developing software, machine learning, or AI solutions
• Strong Python software engineering skills
• Deep understanding of machine learning fundamentals and modern AI techniques
• Experience developing and deploying production-grade machine learning systems
• Familiarity with MLOps practices and modern development methodologies
• Experience with version control, CI/CD, automated testing, and containerisation
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to tackle complex technical challenges
• Current UK security clearance or willingness to undergo security vetting

Desirable Experience

• Experience developing LLM-based applications and AI systems
• Knowledge of prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), agentic workflows, and model evaluation frameworks
• Experience fine-tuning and evaluating foundation models
• Understanding of inference optimisation techniques
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP
• Exposure to AI safety, explainability, or secure AI deployment
• Experience working within Defence, National Security, or other highly regulated environments

If this opportunity is of interest, please apply below.