AI Engineering Lead

Job Description: # AI Engineering Lead SECURITY CLEARANCE: Eligibility to gain UK SC Security Clearance OR You will be subject to BPSS and Export Control checks (including a criminal record check) TRAVEL REQUIRED: None LOCATION: Site (60% of your working week must be office based) TYPE: Full time WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU Financial Reward: Competitive salary, annual profit share, contributory pension, share options, car leasing scheme, free onsite parking, season ticket loan, tax-free technology scheme, shopping discounts and much more Work / Life Balance: 35 hour week, flexible working around core hours and Friday afternoons off, hybrid working, flexible working, option to buy/sell holiday (AP+) Personal Development: Personalised development plan, Airbus Leadership University and unlimited access to 10,000+ E-learning courses, internal mobility including international opportunities Health & Wellbeing: Bupa health insurance (including assisted fertility treatments and gender dysphoria & reassignment support), wellbeing benefits (including 24/7 online GP and mental health support), discounted family health / dental insurance / eye tests, cycle-to-work scheme, on-site canteen and coffee shop, lunchtime yoga / meditation Family and Caregiving: Life assurance, enhanced pay for parental leave (23 weeks at 100% pay), adoption / shared parental / caregiving leave, purpose built maternity rooms on site Inclusive Environment: Wellbeing room, Multi-faith room, Employee Representative Groups (Gender, LGBTQ+, International, Generational, Disability, Social & Cultural Diversity, Neurodiversity) Our world is changing. And so are we. At Airbus, we are pioneering sustainable aerospace for a safe and united world. Data and Artificial Intelligence are key enablers to help us achieve this ambition. They allow us to solve complex industrial challenges, enhance our operational efficiency and advance the competitiveness of our products and services. You will join the central team for Artificial Intelligence of Airbus for commercial aircraft based in the Digital domain. We play a dual role in the digital transformation of the company. First, we directly architect and build the company's most critical and complex AI solutions. Second, we define the technical AI ecosystem by providing the platforms, standards, and expert guidance that enable decentralized teams across our business functions to build and deploy AI faster and more effectively. HOW YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE TEAM Architect & Integrate Complex AI Systems Lead the design of large, interconnected AI systems, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, and operationally robust across our enterprise IT landscape (AWS, GCP, Palantir Foundry). Drive the technical evolution toward autonomous Agentic Systems, designing workflows where AI agents reason, plan, and execute complex business processes. Set high engineering standards for system design, focusing on practical improvements in observability, state management, and error handling for production AI. Technical Leadership & UK Interface Act as the primary interface for our global AI Strategy in the UK, voicing company developments and helping the UK sites develop a stronger footprint in utilizing AI. Act as a "playing coach" to our AI engineers, fostering a culture of technical quality and autonomy. You will code alongside the team to conduct reviews and solve complex technical roadblocks. Contribute to the creation of development standards and reusable components, enabling partner teams across the business to integrate state-of-the-art AI capabilities easily. Delivery & Resilience Quickly address and proactively solve complex technical and operational conflicts that arise when deploying novel technology in a large enterprise. Take responsibility for the quality of our deliveries, ensuring adherence to standards for reliability and compliance. ABOUT YOU Essential Technical Skills: Production Experience : Experience in Software or AI Engineering with a proven track record of deploying and maintaining AI systems in production environments. You understand the complexities of the full production lifecycle such as monitoring, scaling, and debugging. Generative AI & ML : Deep, hands-on experience with LLMs, RAG architectures, prompt and context engineering is essential. You have successfully deployed GenAI solutions to production, but you also maintain a good command of classical ML (classification, regression, clustering). As such you know how to build hybrid architectures where discriminative models complement Generative AI to optimize for accuracy, cost, and latency. Software Engineering : Expert proficiency in Python and modern software architecture (API design, microservices, containerization/Kubernetes). You build systems that are modular, testable, and secure. Cloud Infrastructure: We operate in a hybrid environment. Experience with AWS, GCP or comparable cloud platforms is essential. Experience with Palantir Foundry is a plus, but adaptability and a willingness to learn new platforms are equally valued. Strategic Pluses: Agentic Systems : Experience designing or building AI Agents using frameworks like LangGraph, ADK, or custom implementations. You understand the unique challenges of non-deterministic systems and how to control them. This will be an essential part of the role going forward. Leadership Mindset: Curiosity & Innovation : You have a drive to stay ahead of the curve, specifically regarding Agentic patterns, and a talent for translating emerging technologies into industrial reality. Pragmatic Approach: You balance the pursuit of engineering quality with the need for speed and business impact while challenging the status quo to deliver tangible value. Team Growth: You measure your success not just by your own code, but by how much you elevate the technical capability and autonomy of those around you. Airbus supports your personal growth with custom development solutions. HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU Many of our staff work flexibly in many different ways, including part-time. Please talk to us at the interview about the flexibility you need and we'll always do our best to accommodate your request.Please let us know if you need us to make any adjustments for the selection process - you can share this with your Talent Acquisition Partner if you are invited to interview. Examples may include (but not exclusive to) accessible facilities; auxiliary aids; room layout, etc. Any information disclosed will be treated in the strictest confidence.As a Disability Confident Employer, Airbus UK will offer an interview to any applicant that considers themselves to have a disability or long-term condition under the Equality Act 2010 and meets the minimum criteria of the role (as set out in the job advert). To 'opt in', just select the option during your application submission and your application will be considered accordingly. job requires an awareness of any potential compliance risks and a commitment to act with integrity, as the foundation for the Company's success, reputation and sustainable growth. Company: Airbus Operations Limited Employment Type: Permanent - Experience Level: Professional Job Family: Digital By submitting your CV or application you are consenting to Airbus using and storing information about you for monitoring purposes relating to your application or future employment. This information will only be used by Airbus. Airbus is committed to achieving workforce diversity and creating an inclusive working environment. We welcome all applications irrespective of social and cultural background, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief.Airbus is, and always has been, committed to equal opportunities