Senior AI Engineer (Autonomy & Machine Learning)

Are you passionate about applying AI to solve complex real-world challenges in safety-critical environments As an AI Engineer within ALTEN youll play a key role in developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities that support high-impact programmes across the defence and aerospace sectors. Working as part of a multidisciplinary engineering team youll design build and deploy robust AI solutions helping customers unlock the value of their data while driving innovation across advanced autonomy machine learning and intelligent systems.

This is an opportunity to work across the full AI lifecycle from early-stage concept development and experimentation through to deployment of production-ready solutions in mission-critical environments.

Location: Bristol / Crawley / Glasgow (Hybrid Working)
On-site Requirement: Hybrid working with site attendance based on project requirements
Seniority: 5 years of relevant experience
Security Clearance: Candidates must be willing and eligible to obtain SC clearance.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop AI and machine learning solutions to address complex business and engineering challenges.
• Translate customer and stakeholder requirements into scalable AI architectures technical designs and measurable outcomes.
• Develop train evaluate and optimise machine learning models across areas such as computer vision NLP/LLMs time-series analytics and autonomous systems.
• Build robust data processing training and evaluation pipelines including feature engineering experiment tracking and model validation.
• Collaborate with software systems cyber and data engineering teams to productionise AI capabilities and integrate them into operational systems.
• Champion Responsible AI principles ensuring solutions meet security safety explainability and regulatory requirements.
• Develop reusable AI components frameworks and reference implementations to accelerate future project delivery.
• Support technical demonstrations bids proofs of concept and customer workshops.

Qualifications :

Required Skills

• Strong Python development skills with experience using AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch TensorFlow Scikit-Learn and Hugging Face.
• Proven experience developing and deploying machine learning solutions including deep learning computer vision NLP/LLMs or time-series analytics.
• Experience working with autonomy frameworks such as ROS2 and integrating AI into autonomous or intelligent systems.
• Strong understanding of software engineering best practices including CI/CD testing version control and code quality standards.
• Experience with data processing and analysis tools including Pandas NumPy SQL and model deployment technologies such as FastAPI ONNX or TorchScript.

Soft Skills & Collaboration

• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Collaborative approach with experience working effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Proactive delivery-focused mindset with the ability to influence outcomes and drive innovation.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors or Masters degree in Engineering or relevant technical military background with equivalent experience.
• Commercial AI/ML development experience.
• Experience deploying machine learning solutions into operational environments.
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder engagement skills.

Desirable Skills

• Experience with MLOps MLflow Weights & Biases or similar experiment management platforms.
• Knowledge of cloud-based AI platforms such as AWS Azure or GCP and containerisation technologies including Docker.
• Experience with explainable AI adversarial robustness privacy-preserving techniques or other Responsible AI practices.
• Proficiency in C and development within safety-critical software environments.
• Contributions to open-source projects technical publications patents or advanced research activities.

Additional Information :

Why join us 

We bring together entrepreneurial tech-driven people to deliver innovative solutions for leading companies.

At ALTEN youll work on exciting projects supported by ongoing learning mentoring and clear career development tailored to your goals.

Join a passionate team and help build tomorrow today.

In short you get: 

• A personalised career path and a rewarding management style 
• A huge diversity of engineering projects and industries
• Private Medical Insurance
• Cycle & Tech Scheme 
• Employee assistance programme
• Life insurance & Pension Scheme
• Social atmosphere regular gatherings & team buildings
• Flexible way of working (role dependent)

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant & actively encourage applications from members of the Armed Forces community including veterans reservists service leavers and military spouses/partners. We recognise the value of military skills and experience and are committed to ensuring that no applicant is unfairly disadvantaged during our recruitment and selection processes. 

ALTEN is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and values the strength that comes from a global mix of backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates regardless of background or protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process please let us know. 

This role may require you to have or be willing to go through Security Clearance. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard; details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website . If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria then your employment may be delayed or rejected . Details of this will be discussed with you at interview.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time