Nelly Works
Staff Software Engineer
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Staff Software Engineer
Staff Research Engineer – Early-Stage AI Start-Up (London)
Nelly Works has partnered with an exceptional, early-stage AI start-up in London, developing next-generation intelligent workflows and automation systems. Their vision: the next wave of enterprise value will be driven by software companies that seamlessly scale operational services.
The team is a small, exceptionally talented group of researchers and engineers. Unlike retrofitting AI solutions onto legacy systems, they’re building native AI infrastructure from scratch, shipping to production daily, and moving at extreme speed.
The Role
As a Staff Research Engineer, you will be one of the highest-leverage individual contributors on the team—reporting directly to the Head of Engineering. This isn’t a traditional role with predefined tickets or rigid roadmaps. Instead, you’ll be given broad, open-ended problem spaces, trusted to architect, validate, and ship holistic solutions.
This is a hands-on player-coach role. You’ll stay deeply embedded in the codebase while defining the foundational architecture that will shape the team as it grows.
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Core Responsibilities
- Bridge R&D and Production: Translate cutting-edge applied research into production-ready, robust AI systems.
- Own Broad Problem Spaces: Independently define and execute on complex technical goals, shaping them into clean, scalable architectures.
- Drive Technical Direction: Make foundational engineering decisions across multiple research domains to ensure long-term scalability and velocity.
- Multiply Team Impact: Combine code-level ownership with technical mentorship, design documentation, and rigorous reviews to scale the team efficiently.
Requirements
The team is seeking high-agency builders with:
✔ Senior/Staff Engineer experience within a top-tier R&D lab, applied research team, or early-stage tech company. ✔ "Seen-It-All" mindset: Can design, architect, and ship complex systems end-to-end with minimal supervision. ✔ Velocity & Agility: Thrives in rapid execution, capable of delivering impactful work from concept (Monday) to production (Friday). ✔ Technical Depth: Expertise in software engineering fundamentals plus practical deployment experience in areas such as:
- Agentic workflows
- LLM infrastructure
- Advanced AI systems ✔ Collaborative Presence: Expects 5 days per week on-site in London’s office due to the high-stimulus, collaborative environment.
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Why Join?
- Massive Footprint: A small but exceptional team – your contributions will define core systems in what they build.
- Elite Talent Bar: Operates in a world-class ecosystem, where every teammate is a high-performing operator who will continually challenge you.
- Zero Legacy Debt: Starting from a clean slate, focusing on AI-native infrastructure built for unparalleled speed and scale.
- Rapid Feedback Loops: Work accelerates from research phase to customer-facing impact in days, not months.
👉 For an informal chat or to apply, reach out to Nelly Works directly. Interest in joining our mission? We’re looking forward to speaking!
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