Senior AI engineering, project

The work

Builds the systems that put models into production and keeps them there.

A defined outcome with a defined end. The scope is agreed before you start, and changing it is a new conversation rather than a favour.

The bar

You have owned delivery of this work, end to end, on something that reached real users.

Why this one is hard to judge. A demo proves nothing. What matters is what they did when it failed under real load.

What we ask to see

• A system you put into production and kept there, with the failure that taught you the most
• What you changed after that failure, and how you knew it worked
• Code, an architecture note, or a design document we can read

One solid item beats five vague ones. A referee we can actually call beats a link to a landing page.

What gets an application declined

• The only evidence offered is a certification, a course, or a job title
• Every piece of evidence is under an NDA and no sanitised version or referee is offered
• The work described is entirely a demonstration, a proof of concept, or a hackathon
• More than six disciplines are claimed, which we read as a signal that none has been assessed

If we decline you, the reason is written down and sent to you. The software refuses a decline without one.

What it pays

£400 to £788 a day. That is the tenth to ninetieth percentile of what UK employers advertised for the closest published titles over the six months to 8 August 2026.

Advertised UK contract day rates for Machine Learning Engineer, Artificial Intelligence, tenth to ninetieth percentile, six months to 8 August 2026. Advertised, not agreed, and set by the hirer rather than by us.