Acorn Group
Lead AI Engineer
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Job Title: Lead AI Engineer
Location: Liverpool City Centre (hybrid working basis) Salary: Up to £60,000 (depending on experience) Working Hours: 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday)
About the Role
Acorn Insurance is seeking a senior individual contributor for the role of Lead AI Engineer. This position is responsible for engineering practice, platform infrastructure, and the technical direction of our AI Services function. The role will allow you to:
- Shape the AI strategy at Acorn, influencing technical direction, platform decisions, and engineering discipline in AI development.
- Oversee an end-to-end AI platform, covering infrastructure, observability, governance, and tooling that supports AI delivery across the business.
- Work closely with the Head of AI Services on strategy and platform guidance, collaborate with the Conversational AI team on API integrations, and act as the technical escalation point for AI engineers.
Key Responsibilities
-
AI Strategy & Leadership
- Help develop the AI strategy alongside the Head of AI Services, defining direction, roadmaps, and the engineering vision.
- Lead AI platform infrastructure ( Azure, AKS, Terraform, Helm, Azure Pipelines), ensuring reliability and operational health.
-
Engineering Practice & Governance
- Establish and enforce code review, testing, source control, deployment patterns, and observability standards.
- Set observability, performance, and governance standards (e.g., DPIAs, model documentation, audit trails, evaluation harnesses).
- Partner with the Conversational AI team to integrate APIs (REST, webhook patterns, OpenAPI, authentication, retry/backoff, contract testing) with Boost.ai, ElevenLabs, and comparable platforms.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
-
Platform & Tooling Advancement
- Conduct technical platform/tooling evaluations and drive adoption decisions.
- Expand AI capabilities across new business domains as the AI estate grows.
- Underpin AI scalability through robust technical foundations.
-
Leadership & Culture
- Provide technical mentorship to engineers and raise the bar for engineering culture.
- Operate within a regulated AI governance model (e.g., DPIAs, human-in-the-loop oversight).
- Hold cross-team forums on engineering patterns, tooling, and best practice.
Requirements
-
Production Engineering Expertise
- Strong track record in scalable software/AI/ML engineering in data-sensitive environments (e.g., insurance, enterprise).
- Real software development knowledge—not just AI experimentation.
-
LLM & AI Knowledge
- Deep understanding of LLM application patterns (e.g., RAG, structured extraction, evaluations, prompt/context engineering, agentic workflows).
-
Conversational AI Familiarity
- Hands-on experience with Boost.ai, ElevenLabs, or equivalent voice/chatter platforms.
- Ability to wire APIs to conversational tooling robustly.
-
DevOps & Infrastructure Bindings
- Fluent in Azure (essential): AKS, Terraform, Helm, Azure Pipelines.
- Full-stack comfort (not application-layer-only) and confidence in designing creably scalable platforms.
-
Observability & Governance Track Record
- Demonstrated success in scaling observability, audit trails, and compliance (e.g., data residency, auditability, ZDR, model risk).
-
Mentorship & Leadership Quantum
- Record of mentoring engineers across teams and shaping engineering culture.
- Seniority to serve as a coal-owner of the AI platform with the Head of AI Services.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
- Regulated Environment Awareness
- Experience designing AI within regulatory constraints (e.g., DPIAs, model risk management) from the outset.
Why Join Us?
Grow with Acorn
Acorn Insurance is a leading national insurance provider, specialising in non-standard risk coverage—hired in 1984, now a £750M policies-under-writing firm employing over 1,700 people across the UK. Our growth comes from core values:
- We run through walls for our customers and each other.
- We challenge the status quo.
- We succeed when we help others succeed.
- We act with judgment agility.
Benefits
- 35 days’ holiday (including additional buy/sell options).
- 24/7 mental health support & free counseling.
- Career development via fairs, leadership programs, and hands-on training.
- Flexible benefits (e.g., salary advancement via internal platform).
- Hybrid working options to balance life and work.
- Recognition awards, social events, and more.
Commitment to People
Acorn earns industry recognition for inclusive growth, including
- Mindful Employer accreditation for mental health.
- Disability Confident Level 1 & 2 status.
- Menopause Friendly employer.
- Armed Forces Covenant signatory.
- Great Places to Work and Best Place to Work for Development.
Ahead of Application
- Employment Checks: Successful candidates will undergo criminal and insolvency checks.
- Visa Policy: Roles require visa holders to have at least one year remaining on their Graduate/Post-Study Work visa—no sponsorship currently offered.
- Diversity & Support: We’re committed to inclusive workplace adjustments. Request accommodations anytime—for equity, mental/physical needs, or more.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills