Incubator for Artificial Intelligence
Principal Engineer (Engineering Manager)
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Principal Full Stack Engineer (Engineering Manager) - London/Bristol/Manchester
The Incubator for AI (i.AI) builds AI products inside the UK government that change how public services actually work - across education, health, planning, and parliament. It's small teams moving at startup pace, with the backing of No10 to deliver at national scale.
What you'll be doing:
This is a new, first-of-its-kind engineering management role at i.AI, created because people leadership deserves dedicated focus as the team scales. You'll:
- Line manage a group of Full Stack Engineers of varying seniority across one or more product teams, owning their growth, performance and progression
- Coach engineers at every level - from helping senior engineers handle ambiguity and influence, to building confidence and judgement in earlier-career hires
- Own hiring end-to-end for your roles: defining the bar, sourcing, interviewing, and onboarding
- Shape engineering culture - progression frameworks, forums, onboarding, feedback rituals - largely from scratch, in collaboration with the team
- Help set org-wide standards for quality, reliability and operational excellence
- Partner with senior leadership on team structure, hiring plans, and priorities, and carry that context back to your reports
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What we're looking for:
- Significant experience managing engineers, with a real track record of growing careers
- Experience managing across seniority levels, early-career through senior/lead
- A clear, articulable point of view on how you manage performance and feedback
- Strong hiring-manager experience - you've built or improved a hiring process
- Technical credibility to coach decisions without writing code day-to-day, plus comfort with ambiguity
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What's in it for you:
- Real scope to define engineering management and culture at i.AI from the ground up
- Mission-driven team doing applied AI at the sharp end of UK government
- Salary is dependent on location and skills assessed at interview. This is comprised of a Grade 6 base salary of £74,605–£82,860 for London or £69,675–£78,035 for national, plus a non-pensionable technical allowance of £7,750–£22,600. Total Range: £77,425–£105,460
- 5 days L&D leave, an annual stipend, and conference funding
- 25 days annual leave (+1/year of service), up to 39 weeks full-pay parental leave
- 28.97% employer pension contribution, hybrid working with occasional remote-abroad flexibility
SC clearance required but not a prerequisite to apply (2 of the last 5 years UK residency normally expected).
Apply now for immediate consideration!
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