GoldFern
Senior Forward Deployed Engineer - UK Government AI
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Goldfern Recruitment for Senior Forward Deployed Engineers
Goldfern is recruiting 3 x senior Forward Deployed Engineers for a UK Government AI unit that builds and ships AI products used directly by frontline operational teams across a major government department.
This is the unit's senior hands-on engineering role and its top priority. You'll work directly with operational teams, find the real problems and build AI products that make a measurable difference to them. The key word is ownership: you build the whole thing yourself, from front end, backend and database through to AI, monitoring and deployment. You'll usually have several projects running at once and will work alongside more junior engineers. Communication skills and an ability to engage with both technical and non-technical audiences with clarity and sensitivity is essential.
What you'll be building
- LLM and agent workflows, retrieval (RAG), speech-to-text, translation and document intelligence
- Data pipelines and production AI services, built with the people who use them and improved from their feedback
- Products that handle sensitive data, with security, access control and human review built in from the start
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What we're looking for
- You have personally shipped AI products end to end and into live use. Architecting, or directing others who built it, doesn't count
- Hands-on strength across the full stack. Front end matters as much as backend: must have produced real products with multiple user views, admin or operations tooling, or several workflows
- A live product with a clear before and after: users, time saved, cost reduced
- Security and reliability designed in: least-privilege access, secrets management, monitoring, graceful failure and human approval points
- A solid understanding of how AI systems behave and fail, including context engineering, retrieval, tool-using agents and prompt injection
- Experience working directly with users where there's no fixed spec, and clear communication with non-technical audiences and junior engineers
The stack (or demonstrably similar)
- Next.js and React, Python and FastAPI, Postgres
- Microsoft Azure (App Service, Blob Storage, Terraform-managed containers) and Microsoft Entra ID
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Desirable
- Delivery in a regulated, safety-critical or high-consequence setting
- Taking a product from prototype to adoption at scale
- Sensible build-versus-buy decisions and integrating third-party models and data services
- A start-up background and experience mentoring other engineers
The practicalities
- 12-month contract, day rate, inside IR35 via an umbrella company
- Hybrid, with regular time on site in London, Manchester, Glasgow or Cardiff
- BPSS required before starting. SC will be progressed alongside, which normally needs around five years' UK residence. Holding SC already is an advantage
- Start: as soon as clearance allows
- You must be based in the UK with the existing right to work here. Applications from candidates based overseas will not be considered
This search is being run exclusively through Goldfern. If this sounds like you, or someone in your network, get in touch with Lester Fernando for a confidential conversation.
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