AI Lead Engineering Practices

• Sheffield (or Birmingham) - Hybrid
• £650 per day - inside IR35
• 6 month initial contract - excellent potential for longevity

We're supporting a major global financial services organisation who are looking to onboard an experienced AI Lead to join their Global Engineering Practices team within the Chief Technology Office (CTO).

This is a unique opportunity to combine hands-on technical expertise with engineering leadership, helping shape how AI is adopted across a large global engineering organisation.

Rather than developing AI products, you'll play a leading role in embedding AI into the software engineering lifecycle by developing practical AI capabilities, defining engineering standards, creating reusable tooling and enabling engineers to make effective, responsible use of AI in their day-to-day work.

You'll be equally comfortable writing code, influencing engineering leaders and engaging with technical communities.

• Lead the AI workstream within the Engineering Practices function.
• Develop AI capabilities, integrations and tooling that improve engineering productivity.
• Design and build AI skills that enable engineers to access engineering standards, guidance and best practice through AI-native interfaces.
• Define and promote engineering standards for the effective and responsible use of AI.
• Work closely with Architecture, Security and Risk teams to ensure AI adoption aligns with organisational standards.
• Build and support an internal AI Community of Practice, encouraging knowledge sharing and collaboration.
• Produce technical content including reference implementations, tutorials, playbooks and best practice guidance.
• Deliver workshops, technical sessions and engineering showcases to promote AI adoption.
• Monitor AI adoption across engineering teams, identifying opportunities for improvement and sharing successful outcomes.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor on AI across the engineering community.

• Proven experience delivering AI solutions within a software engineering environment.
• Hands-on experience developing AI applications, integrations or tooling.
• Strong software engineering background with experience in Python, Java or similar programming languages.
• Experience defining technical standards, engineering patterns or best practices.
• Strong understanding of responsible AI principles and the governance of AI within enterprise environments.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both engineering and leadership audiences.
• Experience influencing engineering communities and driving technology adoption at scale.

• Experience within a large enterprise or regulated environment.
• Financial Services experience.
• Experience in Engineering Enablement, Developer Experience (DevEx) or Developer Relations.
• Experience building or leading technical Communities of Practice.
• Conference speaking, technical blogging, open-source contributions or recognised technical thought leadership.
• Familiarity with modern AI tooling and developer productivity platforms.

• £650 per day
• Inside IR35
• Hybrid working Sheffield
• Potential for Birmingham to be considered for exceptional candidates (subject to client approval)
• Initial 6 month contract with strong potential for extension.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in shaping how AI is embedded into engineering practices within a major global technology organisation, influencing the way thousands of engineers adopt and use AI.

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