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. From our commitment to zero-carbon flight (#ZEROe) to cleaning up space, sustainability is at the heart of our purpose. So what's your next change?

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 AI Strategy in the UK, voicing company developments and helping the UK division develop a stronger footprint in utilizing AI.

• Act as a "playing coach" to our AI engineers and data scientists, fostering a culture of technical excellence and autonomy.

• 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 strict adherence to Airbus standards for reliability and compliance.

ABOUT YOU

Production Experience 

• Experience in Software or Data Engineering with a proven track record of deploying and maintaining AI systems in production environments.

• You understand the complexities of "Day 2" operations such as monitoring, scaling, and debugging enterprise-level AI.

Generative AI

• Deep, hands-on experience with LLMs, RAG architectures, and Prompt Engineering is essential.

• You must have successfully deployed GenAI solutions to production, not just prototypes.

Software Engineering & Cloud

• Expert proficiency in Python and modern software architecture (API design, microservices, containerization/Kubernetes).

• Experience with AWS or GCP is essential. Experience with Palantir Foundry is a plus.

Not a 100% match? No worries! 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.

This 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

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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 for all. As such, we will never ask for any type of monetary exchange in the frame of a recruitment process. Any impersonation of Airbus to do so should be reported to emsom@airbus.com.

At Airbus, we support you to work, connect and collaborate more easily and flexibly. Wherever possible, we foster flexible working arrangements to stimulate innovative thinking.