Principal Applied AI Engineer

Colibri Limited.; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading engineering consultancy is seeking a Principal Applied AI Engineer to shape AI systems that deliver significant impact. You will lead technical engagements, mentor teams, and design scalable AI solutions while working remotely. Strong experience in consultancy, software engineering, and cloud MLOps is essential for this role. Competitive salary and benefits are offered.

Benefits

Private health insurance

Flexible remote working

Collaborative culture

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a senior engineering role within AI consulting.
• Strong foundation in software engineering and deployment.
• Deep understanding of cloud and MLOps environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead discovery and delivery for AI engineering.
• Design and deploy applied AI systems.
• Mentor engineers and develop internal capabilities.

Skills

AI technology consultancy experience

Software engineering

Cloud and MLOps environments

Proficiency in Python

Mentorship

Stakeholder management

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

MLflow

SageMaker

Job description

Principal Applied AI Engineer

Department: Services

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Remote, UK

Description

Colibri Digital is a specialist engineering consultancy delivering advanced data and AI solutions for clients across sectors including finance, healthcare, logistics, government, and technology.

As trusted partners of AWS and Databricks, we help organisations design, build, and scale intelligent systems that deliver measurable business outcomes.

We lead from the front in Generative and Applied AI adoption — guiding clients from uncertainty to confident, delivering production‑grade AI implementation.

The Role

We’re looking for a Principal Applied AI Engineer to shape and build AI systems that make a tangible impact.

You’ll work closely with clients and cross‑functional teams to design and deliver scalable, production‑ready AI capabilities — from intelligent automation to generative applications.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguity, mentors others with confidence, and enjoys bridging design, engineering, and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead technical discovery and delivery for AI engineering engagements, taking clients from concept to production.
• Design, build and deploy applied AI systems that integrate seamlessly with existing software and data platforms.
• Develop and maintain backend systems, APIs, and frontends in alignment with software engineering best practices.
• Mentor and develop engineers (both within Colibri and client teams), building capability and confidence.
• Define and uphold best practices in AI engineering, including robust architecture, testing, and deployment.
• Partner with data scientists, product managers, and delivery leads to ensure AI solutions are practical, ethical, and aligned with business outcomes.
• Contribute to Colibri’s internal capability development; shaping frameworks, patterns, building reusable code repositories or other assets and thought leadership in applied AI.
• Represent Colibri as a trusted technical advisor, communicating complex AI concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Proven experience in a senior or principal engineering role within an AI technology consultancy or AI-driven product organisation, delivering AI models, systems and products to production.
• Strong foundation in software engineering with hands‑on experience building and deploying production‑grade AI or ML‑enabled systems.
• Deep understanding of modern cloud and MLOps environments (AWS, Azure, GCP; MLflow, SageMaker, or equivalent).
• Proficiency in at least one major programming language (Python preferred) and modern software delivery practices (CI/CD, containers, orchestration).
• Experience mentoring engineers and guiding clients through AI adoption and delivery.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, able to lead with empathy and clarity in complex client environments

Desirable

• Experience integrating Generative AI, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), or similar architectures into production systems.
• Strong background in consultancy, digital transformation, or multi‑industry project delivery.
• Contributions to open‑source projects or AI engineering communities.

What you can expect from us

• Remote‑first working with flexibility around client needs.
• Private health insurance
• Projects with global brands & public sector leaders, working on real‑world impact
• A collaborative culture of excellence and continuous improvement
• Competitive salary, bonus structure, and long‑term growth opportunities