Senior AI Engineer (Permanent/Freelance options)

The Opportunity We're looking for a Principal AI Engineer to lead the design and delivery of AI-powered software solutions that solve complex business challenges. You'll combine deep engineering expertise with hands-on AI development, helping shape technical direction while turning emerging technologies into scalable, secure, production-ready solutions. This is a senior individual contributor role for someone who enjoys building, experimenting, and driving innovation through modern software engineering and AI. What You'll Do * Design and build scalable, secure, cloud-native applications. * Lead technical architecture and engineering best practice across AI initiatives. * Develop AI-powered solutions using Large Language Models (LLMs), prompt engineering, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). * Prototype new technologies and proof of concepts to validate emerging ideas. * Integrate AI capabilities into enterprise applications and workflows. * Write high-quality code in Java, Python, and other modern languages. * Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and QA teams to deliver impactful solutions. * Champion automation, testing, CI/CD, and secure software development. * Stay at the forefront of AI and software engineering trends. What You'll Bring * Significant experience in software engineering and solution architecture. * Commercial experience building AI-enabled applications, with at least one year of hands-on AI development. * Strong Java and/or Python development skills. * Experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, embeddings, vector databases, and RAG. * Experience deploying AI solutions into production environments. * Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and modern DevOps practices. * A passion for innovation, experimentation, and solving complex technical challenges. Why Join? You'll play a key role in shaping the future of AI within a technology-driven financial services business, working with modern tools, solving meaningful problems, and influencing the next generation of intelligent products and platforms.