Lead Backend Engineer (Python & AI)

ABOUT TIDE

At Tide we help SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services but also a comprehensive set of highly usable and connected administrative solutions from invoicing to accounting.

Tide is transforming the small business banking market with over 1.8 million members globally across the UK India Germany and France.

Using advanced technology all solutions are designed with SMEs in mind. With quick onboarding low fees and innovative features we thrive on making data-driven decisions to serve our mission: to help SMEs save both time (and money) so they can get back to doing what they love.

Tide facts:

• Tide is available for UK Indian German and French SMEs
• Over 1.8 million members: 800000 UK andin India and growing rapidly
• Over $300 million raised in funding
• Over 2500 Tideans globally - were diversity champions!
• We have offices in Central London with a member support and technology centre in Sofia Bulgaria technology centres in Serbia Romania Lithuania and Hyderabad and offices in Gurugram and New Delhi and in Berlin Paris and Luxembourg.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated ML Engineer to join our dynamic team. This is a unique opportunity to work on cutting-edge generative AI and agentic applications while also building the foundational platform that will power these systems across the company. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in backend software engineering coupled with a passion for and experience in building and deploying AI/ML models particularly in the Generative AI space.

As a ML Engineer youll be:

• Design build and maintain scalable and robust Generative AI and Agentic-powered products and systems.
• Collaborate with data scientists and other engineers for the development of our internal Agentic Platform creating reusable components and services.
• Implement and optimize data pipelines for training and evaluating AI models.
• Ensure the reliability observability and performance of our AI-powered systems through robust testing CI/CD pipelines and monitoring.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI large language models (LLMs) and agentic systems and apply them to solve real-world business problems.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• Proven experience in designing building and operating enterprise-scale distributed systems and microservices.
• A seasoned software engineer with a strong foundation in backend development and experience with Python.
• A strong interest in and practical experience with machine learning and Generative AI including:
• Familiarity with LLMs and their applications.
• Experience with prompting techniques and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
• Knowledge of frameworks and libraries like LangChain LangGraph or similar.
• Understanding of the lifecycle of an AI/ML model from data collection to deployment testing and monitoring.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (we use AWS and GCP) and containerization technologies (e.g. Docker Kubernetes).
• Solid understanding of CI/CD principles and experience with relevant tools (we use GitHub Actions).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively in a collaborative fast-paced environment.
• Familiarity with data storage technologies including relational databases and data warehouses (we use BigQuery)
• A passion for innovation and a desire to build cutting-edge impactful products.

Nice to have

• Experience with event-driven architectures and message queues (we use Kafka and AWS SNS/SQS).
• Familiarity with vector databases.
• Experience with MLOps tools and practices.

OUR TECH STACK (You dont have to excel in all but willing to learn them):

• Databricks on AWS
• Python Flask
• Snowflake
• Tecton - feature store
• Fiddler - model observability platform

• Competitive Compensation - competitive salary and share options
• Time Off Generous annual leave on top of bank holidays.
• Parental Leave Paid maternity paternity and adoption leave to support your family journey.
• Sabbatical Extended unpaid and paid leave options after completing milestone years with Tide.
• Health Insurance Private family insurance with additional OPD coverage and top-up options.
• Life & Accident Cover Comprehensive accidental and life insurance protection.
• Mental Wellbeing Access to therapy sessions courses meditations and workshops.
• Volunteering & Development Days Paid days annually for volunteering or personal growth.
• Learning & Development Annual budget for books courses coaching and more.
• WOO (Work Outside the Office) Work from abroad for up to 90 days annually.
• Home Office Setup Contribution towards setting up your home office
• Laptop Ownership Keep your old laptop and get a new one when its time for a replacement.
• Snacks & Meals Office perks with snacks coffee tea and lunch (location dependent).

TIDEAN WAYS OF WORKING:

At Tide we champion a flexible workplace model that supports both in-person and remote work to cater to the specific needs of our different teams.

While remote work is supported we believe in the power of face-to-face interactions to foster team spirit and collaboration. Our offices are designed as hubs for innovation and team-building where we encourage regular in-person gatherings to foster a strong sense of community.

#LI-NN1

TIDE IS A PLACE FOR EVERYONE

At Tide we believe that we can only succeed if we let our differences enrich our culture. Our Tideans come from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels. We consider everyone irrespective of their ethnicity religion sexual orientation gender identity family or parental status national origin veteran neurodiversity or differently-abled status. We celebrate diversity in our workforce as a cornerstone of our success. Our commitment to a broad spectrum of ideas and backgrounds is what enables us to build products that resonate with our members diverse needs and lives.

We are One Team and foster a transparent and inclusive environment where everyones voice is heard.

At Tide we thrive on diversity embracing various backgrounds and experiences. We welcome all individuals regardless of ethnicity religion sexual orientation gender identity or disability. Our inclusive culture is key to our success helping us build products that meet our members diverse needs. We are One Team committed to transparency and ensuring everyones voice is heard.

• Tide doesnotcharge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.
• All official Tide job opportunities are listed exclusively on ourCareers Pageand applications should be submitted through this channel.
• Communication from Tide will only come from an official@tide.coemail address.
• Tide does not work with agencies or recruiters without prior formal engagement and we do not authorize third parties to make job offers on our behalf.

If you are contacted by anyone misrepresenting Tide or requesting payment please treat it as fraudulent and report it to us immediately at
Your safety and trust are important to us and we are committed to ensuring a fair and transparent recruitment process.

Tide leverages AI to enhance our hiring experience. You can read more about how we use AI in our recruitment process in our AI Policy.

Your personal data will be processed by Tide for recruitment purposes and in accordance with Tides Recruitment Privacy Notice.