About the Incubator for AI (i.AI)

The Incubator for AI (i.AI) is a high-agency technical unit within the UK government. Our mission is to pioneer transformative applications of AI to build a better Britain.  

We operate under three core principles:

Talent: We bring together the UK’s best AI talent across a range of functions. You will work alongside exceptional researchers and top government leaders, staying at the cutting edge of technology.

Innovation: We set precedents for what is possible in government. We combine the pace of a start-up with the influence of being at the digital centre of government. You will test new ideas, expand what is possible, and leverage unique government data to create novel solutions.

Impact: We are dedicated to using AI as a tool for public good - this can mean improving outcomes in schools, boosting housebuilding or providing more personalised support for those in need. With the backing of the Prime Minister, you will turn technical breakthroughs into real-world applications that affect millions of citizens.

About the role

We are looking for Applied AI Engineers of all experience levels to join the Incubator for AI (i.AI). You will operate at the frontier of the industry, building products that leverage state-of-the-art methods to solve real-world problems for the public sector.

You’ll be working on: 

• Experimentation & Prototyping: Rapidly prototype AI solutions to test hypotheses, explore trade-offs, and de-risk new ideas. This involves designing and developing products that leverage the latest models.
• Model Development & Evaluation: Train, scaffold and adapt models in applied settings using rigorous evaluation methodologies. Define and implement metrics that capture real-world performance, including accuracy, robustness, latency, cost, and fairness. 
• Applied AI Research & Iteration: Staying up to date with recent advances in AI, and assessing their applicability to real-world products. Iterate on models and approaches based on experimental results, user feedback, and production observations.
• Product-focused development: Translate ambiguous product and government problems into well-defined AI tasks. Work closely with Product Managers to translate product requirements into technical architectures and implement them. Select appropriate modelling approaches (e.g., classical ML, deep learning, foundation models, prompting, fine-tuning) based on data, constraints, and desired outcomes.

Our stack

• Python, Typescript, Javascript
• Infra: AWS, with access to GCP and Azure services
• Access to all of the latest models
• We make extensive use of frameworks to assist building and evaluation like LiteLLM, Langgraph, Langchain, DSPy, Langfuse, Inspect. 

Who are we looking for?

We are looking to hire at all levels of experience and have multiple roles available. You may be a good fit if you have some of the following skills, experience and attitudes. 

• Proven experience in rapidly developing and shipping AI products or models in fast-paced environments.
• Experience building benchmarks and datasets to train/evaluate AI systems or agents in production settings.
• Experience with AI infrastructure (e.g., model deployment, optimization, data processing) and cloud computing platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Hands-on experience with a range of AI concepts, such as LLMs, VLMs, RAG, Agents, MCP, computer vision, GraphML, recommendation systems or reinforcement learning.  
• Familiarity with machine learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow etc).
• Strong proficiency in software development (Python preferred) and strong understanding of data structures and algorithms.
• Engineering excellence - writing high-quality, maintainable code.
• Track record of contributing to open source projects or publishing research.
• Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics, or related field or equivalent industry experience.
• Ability to work in agile, user-centred environments.