AI Engineer (Generative & Agentic AI)

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Posted:

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Location: Manchester/London

Salary: 60,000+ (per annum)

Job type: Permanent

Working pattern: Full time

Industry: Accountancy Firms / Consultancy

Company: Hays

Consultant: Ashley Sharp

Hays office: Manchester — 5th Floor, City Tower, Piccadilly Plaza

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Location: London/Manchester
Hybrid Salary: Competitive + Benefits

Overview

We're seeking an AI Engineer to help design, build and deploy AI-powered solutions that drive business value across a leading professional services environment.

This role sits within a growing AI function focused on accelerating AI adoption, delivering agentic AI solutions and improving business processes through intelligent automation. You'll work across a variety of initiatives, partnering with stakeholders to identify opportunities where AI can create meaningful impact while operating within a regulated and governance-led environment.

We're looking for individuals who combine strong engineering foundations with practical problem-solving skills and a passion for applying Generative AI to real-world challenges.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop AI-powered applications using Large Language Models (LLMs) and modern AI frameworks.
• Build and deploy agentic AI solutions to automate workflows and enhance business processes.
• Develop Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions using vector databases and semantic search technologies.
• Design and implement AI orchestration pipelines using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen or similar.
• Integrate AI solutions with enterprise applications, APIs and automation platforms.
• Work closely with business stakeholders to understand challenges and identify opportunities for AI-driven improvements.
• Contribute to the development of internal AI tools and solutions that improve operational efficiency and client delivery.
• Support AI governance, responsible AI practices, security controls and identity management requirements.
• Ensure AI solutions are scalable, secure and production-ready.
• Help establish best practices around testing, monitoring and evaluation of AI systems.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Commercial experience building AI, Generative AI or Agentic AI solutions.
• Strong software engineering skills with proficiency in Python, .NET or similar programming languages.
• Experience working with Large Language Models and AI services such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic Claude or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience with AI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, CrewAI or similar.
• Experience developing and deploying cloud-native applications within Azure, AWS or GCP.
• Strong understanding of APIs, system integration and modern software development practices.
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical thinking skills.
• Ability to work independently whilst collaborating effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Desirable

• Experience with workflow automation platforms such as n8n, Power Automate, Dify or similar.
• Knowledge of vector databases including Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma, FAISS or Milvus.
• Experience building Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions.
• Understanding of AI governance, Responsible AI and AI security principles.
• Exposure to MLOps, model deployment and monitoring frameworks.
• Experience working within a regulated industry such as Financial Services, Professional Services, Insurance or Consulting.

What We're Looking For

• A naturally curious problem-solver who enjoys tackling complex business challenges.
• Someone who understands both the opportunities and limitations of modern AI technologies.
• An engineer who can move comfortably between technical delivery, solution design and stakeholder engagement.
• A practical thinker who focuses on delivering outcomes rather than deploying AI for the sake of it.
• A collaborative team player who enjoys working in a fast-evolving AI landscape.

Why Join?

• Be part of a rapidly growing AI function.
• Work on cutting-edge Generative AI and Agentic AI initiatives.
• Influence how AI is adopted across a major organisation.
• Build production-grade AI solutions that create measurable business impact.
• Collaborate with experienced AI leaders, engineers and business stakeholders.

# - Ashley Sharp