Lead Engineer (AI Platform)

Your day to day: Lead Engineer

• Designing and implementing AI-driven features and services within Napier’s platform  
• Contributing hands-on to development, including coding, debugging, and testing  
• Leading or mentoring a small team of engineers, supporting their growth and output  
• Working closely with Product, Architecture, and Data teams to translate AI use cases into production systems  
• Helping define and evolve engineering standards, tooling, and development practices within the AI team  
• Supporting integration of AI/ML models into scalable, production-grade systems  
• Diagnosing and resolving functional and performance/scalability issues  
• Participating in technology selection and architectural decisions  
• Supporting recruitment and onboarding of new team members as required  
• Providing input on resourcing decisions and team growth 

Do you have what it takes?

• At least 5–7 years of commercial experience in a senior or lead engineering role  
• Strong experience building and delivering production-grade systems in a product or SaaS environment  
• Experience working in smaller companies or teams, with a pragmatic and adaptable approach  
• Experience leading engineers or acting in a technical leadership capacity  
• Experience working in Agile delivery environments with a continuous improvement mindset  
• Exposure to AI/ML systems, data-driven platforms, or analytics products  
• Understanding of how to integrate models or data-driven features into production systems 
• Knowledge of DevOps and modern software engineering practices 

• Strong hands-on programming experience in Go or Python (experience in both is beneficial)  
• Experience building distributed, microservice-based systems  
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)  
• Understanding of containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)  
• Experience with data pipelines, streaming technologies, or event-driven systems (e.g. Kafka beneficial)  
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to adapt quickly to changing requirements  
• Ability to balance hands-on development with technical leadership responsibilities  
• Collaborative team player with strong communication and stakeholder management skills  
• Comfortable working in evolving environments and helping shape direction and structure

• Machine learning frameworks or AI model development  
• Financial crime, fraud, or risk-related domains  
•  Data processing and analytics platforms  
• Performance engineering and scalability optimisation  
• Observability tools such as Grafana and Prometheus  
• Exposure to modern front-end technologies (React, Angular) 
• Experience working with distributed or remote teams 

Why Napier?

• Comprehensive private healthcare through AXA covering optical, audio & dental.
• 25 days of annual leave + bank holidays, your birthday and a wellness day
• Dedicated pension plan through Aviva
• Life Insurance 4x your annual salary
• Enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave
• Income protections policy
• Work from anywhere for up to 1 month
• Access to our employee wellbeing programme.
• Gym membership discounts.
• Flexibility in work schedules and locations, ensuring a work-life balance.
  • This role can be fulfilled either with a hybrid approach or fully in-office – depending on your preference.
• An open and flexible culture that allows you to work in the best way for you.