AI Lead Engineer

As the technical authority for agentic AI platform architecture, you lead the design and evolution of Very’s AI-enabled infrastructure. You shape how we build at scale, guide engineering standards, and mentor the squad to deliver reliable, secure cloud-native foundations. You work closely with product and performance architects to translate requirements into impactful technical deliverables. This role blends hands-on coding with strategic direction, offering real influence in a greenfield AI space.

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• 6500 flexible benefits allowance
• 30 days holiday + bank holidays
• LinkedIn Learning access
• Bonus potential (performance and business-related)
• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk

• Architect and evolve the Agentic AI platform (frontend tooling, AI gateways, backend LLM integrations) with a focus on reliability, security and scale
• Be the technical decision-maker for AI platform architecture and establish patterns and practices
• Lead code reviews, system design sessions and spikes to raise engineering standards
• Translate requirements from the AI Technical Product Owner into prioritized technical deliverables
• Own SLAs, metrics and monitoring; lead RCA investigations when issues arise
• Drive CI/CD improvements and promote DevSecOps across the squad
• Coach and mentor engineers across levels to grow AWS and Terraform capabilities
• Collaborate with Performance Unit Architects and Engineering Managers to align with broader roadmaps
• Proactively manage technical risk and debt, shaping long-term platform evolution
• Share expertise internally and externally to strengthen Very’s engineering brand

• Senior or Principal AWS Platform Engineering experience
• Hands-on Terraform IaC development expert
• Experience designing, building and maintaining Agentic AI platforms (frontend tooling, AI gateways, LLM integrations)
• Proven hands-on AWS knowledge (VPC, EC2, ECS, ECR, Fargate, S3, Route 53, RDS, DynamoDB, API Gateway, Lambda, Transit Gateway, EBS, EFS, Config, AWS CLI)
• Strong GitLab CI skills; GitLab admin experience is a plus
• Security-focused AWS tooling experience
• Development experience in Python or similar; ability to write code
• Excellent Linux administration
• Track record defining best practices and platform design at enterprise scale
• Strong communication for technical and non-technical audiences; stakeholder management
• Understanding of AWS cost optimisation and efficient cloud operation

• influencing and mentoring
• clear communication
• stakeholder management
• Terraform
• AWS (extensive services list)
• Python