AI Engineer - Defence

AI Engineer

Newcastle upon Tyne
Up to £100,000 + Benefits

We're partnering with an engineering-led technology business in Newcastle that's developing advanced AI solutions to support the UK's defence and national security sector. Their team is made up of curious, collaborative engineers who enjoy solving difficult technical problems and turning innovative ideas into real-world solutions.

This is a hands-on role where you'll work across everything from early-stage proof of concepts through to production-ready AI systems. No two projects are the same, giving you exposure to a broad range of technologies, engineering challenges and cutting-edge AI applications.

If you enjoy understanding how machine learning models work—not just consuming APIs—and you're excited by building robust, scalable AI solutions, this could be the perfect next step.

What you'll be doing

• Design and develop AI applications that tackle complex, real-world problems.
• Take ideas from proof of concept through to production-ready solutions.
• Work with modern AI technologies to build scalable, reliable software.
• Collaborate with experienced engineers to solve challenging technical problems.
• Research emerging AI techniques and contribute ideas that shape future capabilities.
• Share knowledge across the team and help foster a collaborative engineering culture.
• Support technical discussions internally and with customers where appropriate.

What we're looking for

We're looking for engineers who are naturally curious, enjoy solving difficult problems and have a strong technical foundation.

Ideally, you'll have:

• Strong Python development skills and experience building high-quality software.
• A solid understanding of machine learning algorithms and AI fundamentals.
• Experience with one or more of the following:
  • Agentic AI
  • Large Language Models (LLMs)
  • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
  • Edge AI
  • Multi-modal AI
  • AI explainability
  • AI safety, robustness or security
  • Emerging machine learning techniques
• A strong appreciation for software engineering best practices, including testing, version control and writing maintainable code.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams.
• A 2:1 or above from a Russell Group university or a globally recognised top 200 university in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Mathematics or another relevant technical discipline.
• The ability to work in the UK and be eligible to obtain Security Check (SC) clearance.

Previous experience within defence, government or national security is advantageous, but not essential.