We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Principal AI Engineer to join us as a senior technical authority for AI and Generative AI, defining our long-term AI engineering strategy and leading the design of enterprise‑grade solutions that deliver safe, scalable and high‑impact AI across the business.
You’ll build secure, scalable multi‑provider AI platforms, leveraging third‑party capabilities where they add value that minimise vendor lock‑in and support rapid experimentation across Azure OpenAI and alternative LLM ecosystems. You’ll also shape the design of agentic AI systems, orchestration layers, and integration patterns that support flexible, production‑ready AI solutions at pace.
Working closely with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Data, Platforms, and senior business leaders, you’ll ensure all AI solutions are robust, compliant, and aligned to organisational goals. You’ll also provide technical leadership across the engineering community, mentoring senior engineers, setting technical governance standards, and championing responsible and ethical AI practices.
This is a flexible hybrid role, with occasional visits to our offices in Salford Quays (Manchester) or Haywards Heath (West Sussex) when needed. We offer excellent flexibility in working patterns, along with a supportive, people‑focused culture that we’re proud of.
Core skills we’re looking for to succeed in the role:
- Python & Modern AI Framework Expertise: Expert‑level Python development and strong familiarity with modern AI frameworks (e.g., LangChain or equivalent).
- Systems Architecture & Distributed Design: Exceptional system design and architectural reasoning skills, particularly for distributed and AI‑driven systems.
- Innovation, Pragmatism & Operational Awareness: Ability to balance innovation with pragmatism, risk, and operational constraints.
- Communication, Influence & Stakeholder Engagement: Outstanding communication and influencing skills, able to engage effectively at engineer, architect, and executive levels.
- AI Reliability & Governance: Demonstrable leadership in AI Ops, including monitoring, governance and operational resilience.
- Strategic Thinking with Hands‑On Delivery: Strong strategic thinking combined with the ability to remain hands‑on when required.
Check out the full job profile on our career pages and apply today
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