AI
ENGINEERING RECRUITMENT SOLUTIONS
Harnham specializes in AI Engineering recruitment, offering a deep understanding of the AI technology landscape and its evolving demands. Our services are tailored to identify and attract AI professionals with expertise in machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and other AI disciplines, ensuring they match the specific needs of your projects and company culture.
With our extensive global network, we access a vast pool of AI talent across various regions, while our local market expertise guarantees a nuanced understanding of each area's unique professional landscape. This dual approach ensures we deliver candidates who not only excel in their technical capabilities but also align with your regional and organizational nuances.
WHY
HARNHAM?
Harnham goes beyond traditional AI recruitment; we act as your strategic data talent partner, understanding your business objectives and technological environment to align our data talent search with your long-term goals.
This approach transforms AI recruitment from a transactional process to a strategic element of your business success. We offer a full spectrum of data talent solutions encompassing talent mapping, market analysis, competitor intelligence, AI salary benchmarking, and strategic workforce planning. Our comprehensive services ensure you can not only attract but also retain the leading minds in AI engineering.Â
OUR
SERVICES
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- Permanent Direct Hire Placement: We find the perfect match for your long-term needs in AI engineering, ensuring candidates who can grow and evolve with your company.
- Contract and Freelance : Our contract recruitment solutions offer flexibility and access to top-tier talent for project-based or interim needs in AI engineering.
- Executive Search: We identify and secure industry-leading executives who can steer your AI initiatives to new heights of success and innovation.
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Connect with Us
Discover how our tailored AI recruitment and data talent solutions can empower your business to lead in the AI revolution.Â
Contact us today to start a conversation about your data talent needs and how we can help you achieve your strategic objectives.
JOBS
LATEST AI engineering
JOBS
Harnham are a specialist Data & AI recruitment business with teams that only focus on niche areas.
Lead AI Engineer
San Francisco
$250000 - $300000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentSan Francisco, California
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
Location: San Francisco Bay Area | Hybrid
Salary: $250-300k + Equity
Join a well-funded, AI-native startup at the forefront of redefining how digital products are designed and shipped.
This team is building a next-generation design platform where every screen is real, production-ready code. Designers work directly in the medium that ships, not static mockups, with AI deeply embedded into the workflow to accelerate iteration while preserving precision, consistency, and control.
Backed by top-tier Bay Area investors and senior product leaders from companies including Shopify, Notion, Dropbox, Stripe, and OpenAI, the company has strong runway, a high bar for talent, and ambitious plans ahead.
They’re now hiring their first dedicated Lead AI Engineer to own the model layer and drive AI performance across the product.
The Opportunity
You’ll work directly with the CTO and founding team to define and execute the AI strategy at the model level.
This is a hands-on, production-focused AI engineering role centered on:
- Fine-tuning LLMs for real-world use cases
- Optimizing inference speed, cost, and reliability
- Designing and deploying custom Small Language Models (SLMs)
- Establishing evaluation, benchmarking, and observability standards
What You’ll Be Responsible For
Fine-Tuning & Model Strategy
- Own fine-tuning workflows (LoRA, adapters, distillation, full fine-tuning)
- Decide when to fine-tune vs optimize at the system or prompt level
- Iterate models based on production feedback
- Balance quality, latency, and cost tradeoffs
Model Optimization & Performance
- Improve inference speed and throughput
- Reduce cost per request
- Enhance reliability and output consistency
- Define model evaluation and benchmarking frameworks
Custom SLM Development
- Design and train custom SLMs for specific design-to-code workflows
- Identify when smaller models outperform larger ones
- Deploy and maintain real-time, streaming AI systems
- Support multi-step and agentic AI capabilities within the product
What They’re Looking For
- 5+ years of software engineering experience
- 2+ years building with LLMs in production environments
- Proven hands-on fine-tuning experience (LoRA, distillation, adapters, etc.)
- Experience deploying custom or specialized models
- Strong intuition around inference tradeoffs: latency, throughput, cost, reliability
- Proficiency in Python and TypeScript / Node.js
Nice to have:
- ONNX runtime or model optimization tooling
- Experience with orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain)
- WebSockets, Redis, or real-time streaming systems
- Background in AI-native or code-generation products
- A PhD or advanced degree is welcomed, but demonstrated production impact is the priority.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
Manchester
£70000 - £90000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentManchester, Greater Manchester
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer – Manchester
We are working on an exciting role with a scale up SaaS company who are focused on helping clients eliminate wasteful and fraudulent ad traffic.
The Role
We are looking for an experienced Data Scientist with strong ML expertise to build and improve models that detect invalid traffic (IVT) and protect ad spend. You’ll work with large-scale data, design production-ready ML systems, and collaborate closely with engineering to keep models performant and reliable.
Responsibilities
- Develop and deploy ML models to detect bot and fraudulent traffic
- Lead research and prototyping of new detection methods
- Monitor model performance and address drift or false positives
- Collaborate across teams to turn insights into product features
- Ensure compliance, scalability, and reliability of ML systems
What We’re Looking For
- Proven experience with ML in production environments
- Strong skills in Python, SQL, and AWS (SageMaker, Lambda, etc.)
- Familiarity with MLOps and real-time data applications
- A pragmatic mindset and strong problem-solving ability
- Background in adtech or fraud detection is a bonus

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
London
£80000 - £85000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentLondon
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
London hybrid, £80,000 to £85,000 base plus bonus and benefits
This is a role for someone who wants real ownership and influence. You will join a growing internal AI function at a point where direction, structure, and best practice genuinely matter. If you enjoy being hands-on while shaping how AI is used across a business, this role offers the space to make a visible impact.
The Company
They are a well-established organisation operating at scale across the UK, working with both public sector and commercial partners. Technology sits at the centre of their strategy, with a clear focus on using data and AI to improve how teams work internally. Their AI capability is evolving, with senior backing and a clear appetite to move from experimentation to mature, production-ready solutions.
The Role
You will be a senior technical voice within an AI enablement team, working closely with a Head of AI and a Product Owner to turn business needs into practical AI products.
- Design, build, and deploy internal AI-powered applications used across the organisation
- Lead development of conversational AI and automation tools that support complex business processes
- Define and evolve the LLM architecture and tooling, building on existing OpenAI usage
- Translate loosely defined problems into clear, scalable technical solutions
- Partner with product and business stakeholders to prioritise high-impact use cases
- Set engineering standards, guide best practice, and support the development of other engineers
- Own solutions end to end, from design through to deployment, monitoring, and iteration
Your Skills & Experience
- Strong commercial experience as a software engineer, with software engineering fundamentals at the core of your background
- Advanced Python development skills and experience building backend services and APIs
- Proven experience integrating AI or LLM-based services into production systems
- Cloud-native development experience, ideally within Azure environments
- Solid understanding of system design, CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and production reliability
- Confidence influencing technical direction and bringing structure to less mature environments
- A practical mindset focused on building robust software that delivers real business impact
What They Offer
- Salary between £80,000 and £85,000 plus a performance-related bonus
- Employer pension contribution up to 8 percent
- Hybrid working model with regular collaboration in the London office
- A comprehensive benefits package including healthcare support and enhanced family policies
- The opportunity to shape and mature an internal AI function with long-term impact
How to Apply
If you are looking for Lead AI Engineer role where you can combine hands-on delivery with real influence, apply with your CV to learn more about this opportunity.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Forward Deployed Senior Data Scientist
$150000 - $175000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentUSA
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Forward Deployed Senior Data Scientist
Salary: $175,000+ (Depending on Experience)
Locations: Remote (with 25% travel)
THE COMPANY
A high‑growth, mission‑focused technology organisation is expanding its advanced analytics and AI function. Operating in a complex, data‑rich environment, the team builds scalable, high‑impact AI systems that support critical decision‑making and deliver tangible operational value. The environment is fast‑paced, innovative, and ideally suited to someone who thrives in high‑autonomy, high‑impact roles.
THE ROLE
As a Forward Deployed Senior Data Scientist, you will work directly with stakeholders to translate complex problems into deployable AI solutions. You’ll use a combination of proprietary and commercial datasets to uncover insights, build models, and deploy production‑ready systems that support strategic decision‑making.
This role blends hands‑on data science, AI engineering, rapid prototyping, and end‑to‑end delivery ideal for someone who is highly analytical, scrappy, and passionate about solving complex technical challenges with real‑world impact.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Build advanced AI/ML/DS models and systems tailored to high‑value operational challenges
- Develop new AI‑driven technology stacks designed for specific customer use cases
- Lead end‑to‑end delivery of AI projects, from scoping to production deployment
- Partner with research, engineering, and software teams to deliver robust AI products
- Define architectural standards and project roadmaps for scalable AI systems
- Create evaluation frameworks for AI deployments, including performance, reliability, and observability
- Mentor junior team members and help shape a culture of excellence and innovation
- Stay current with emerging techniques in AI, LLMs, and agentic systems; drive adoption of best practices
- Build agentic AI systems leveraging reasoning frameworks and orchestrators
- Act as a technical leader, translating high‑level objectives into actionable technical plans
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- Extensive experience designing, developing, and delivering AI/ML solutions end‑to‑end
- Strong software and data science fundamentals (Python essential)
- Experience building production‑grade AI systems and integrating them into customer environments
- Ability to collaborate across research, engineering, and product teams
- Experience working with large‑scale datasets and cloud‑based ML deployments
- Strong organisational skills and the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly
- Proven ability to operate independently in fast‑moving environments and manage competing priorities
- Passion for rapid prototyping, experimentation, and building high‑impact solutions
DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE
- Publications in top AI/ML/NLP or decision science venues
- Experience developing evaluation systems for LLMs or agentic models
- Experience with fine‑tuning, post‑training, or advanced model adaptation
- Familiarity with MLOps, monitoring, deployment, and large‑scale model management
- Track record of converting research prototypes into production systems
THE OFFER
- Competitive compensation (around $175,000 base depending on experience)
- Opportunity to work on deeply impactful, high‑scale AI challenges
- High degree of autonomy, technical ownership, and end‑to‑end influence
- A fast‑paced, innovation‑driven environment with strong technical peers
- Exposure to cutting‑edge modelling, LLMs, and agentic system development

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
Pittsburgh
$150000 - $175000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
$175,000 Base Salary
Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Onsite)
THE COMPANY
This organisation operates within a highly secure, mission‑critical environment and is scaling its advanced AI engineering function. They focus on building intelligent, autonomous systems that streamline complex operational workflows and support high‑stakes decision‑making. The work is deeply technical, fast‑moving, and has genuine real‑world impact.
THE ROLE
You’ll be joining a small, high‑calibre engineering team focused on next‑generation agentic AI. The position involves building multi‑agent architectures, long‑horizon planning systems, and robust tools that enable agents to operate reliably at scale.
The ideal candidate loves solving ambiguous technical problems, has shipped LLM‑driven systems end‑to‑end, and thrives in a startup‑style environment.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Design and build advanced agent‑based systems with planning, routing, memory, and tool‑use capabilities
- Develop modular “skills” and components that integrate with internal services and data pipelines
- Own architectural standards, scalability, and system reliability
- Implement evaluation frameworks, behavioural telemetry, and regression testing
- Partner closely with product and implementation teams to address complex operational challenges
EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- 5+ years building production ML or LLM-powered systems
- Strong Python engineering background
- Hands‑on experience with LLM integration, agent frameworks, and cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred)
- Proven ability to build systems end‑to‑end in high‑ambiguity, high‑impact environments
- Familiarity with Git, CI/CD, and modern engineering best practices
DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE
- Multi‑agent coordination, tool orchestration, or agentic system design
- Exposure to startup or rapid‑growth engineering teams
- Eligibility for work in secure environments
- Experience with front‑end frameworks (React/Next.js) is a bonus
THE OFFER
- $175,000 base salary
- High‑impact projects with substantial autonomy
- Chance to shape a new generation of agentic AI capabilities
- Work with exceptional technical peers in a deeply mission‑driven setting

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
Arlington
$160000 - $175000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentArlington, Virginia
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
Arlington, PA – Competitive Salary & Benefits
This is a standout opportunity to shape the future of large‑scale agentic AI systems within a fast‑growing environment. You will take ownership of high‑impact initiatives, guiding the architecture, build, and deployment of cutting‑edge LLM‑powered agents used across complex workflows.
The Company
They are a technology‑driven organisation building AI‑enabled products that support mission‑critical decision‑making. Their teams work across data, engineering, and product to deliver tools that streamline highly complex operational challenges. With strong investment in AI innovation, they offer an environment where advanced experimentation and production‑grade delivery go hand in hand.
The Role
* Lead the technical direction of agentic AI development, from design through to deployment.
* Build multi‑agent systems with planning, memory, routing, and tool orchestration.
* Develop modular agent skills that integrate with backend systems and data pipelines.
* Establish observability and evaluation tooling to ensure robust and reliable agent behaviour.
* Guide and mentor Engineers and Data Scientists, driving technical best practice.
* Work closely with product teams to translate complex challenges into engineered solutions.
Your Skills & Experience
* Strong commercial experience building and productionising ML or LLM‑powered systems.
* Advanced Python engineering skills and experience with cloud infrastructure.
* Hands‑on expertise with LLM integrations and agent frameworks.
* Ability to lead technical delivery and operate effectively in ambiguous environments.
* Skilled in designing scalable, reliable AI architectures.
What They Offer
* Competitive salary with comprehensive benefits.
* A key leadership position with influence over the direction of core AI products.
* Career development within a high‑growth AI organisation.
How to Apply
If you are excited by leading cutting‑edge agentic AI development, apply today.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
Pittsburgh
$140000 - $175000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
Pittsburgh, PA – Competitive Salary & Benefits
This role gives you the chance to build advanced agentic systems that solve complex, real‑world problems. You will work on high‑impact workflows, building and optimising agents that handle end‑to‑end tasks supported by LLM‑driven reasoning and planning.
The Company
They develop AI‑powered products that enhance decision‑making for highly technical environments. Their teams thrive on tackling complex problems, rapidly iterating, and pushing the boundaries of applied AI. With a culture rooted in innovation, this is a place where you can drive meaningful impact.
The Role
* Design and build agentic systems with tool use, planning, memory, and routing.
* Develop agent skills as modular services interacting with core data and ML systems.
* Own technical architecture across agent workflows, ensuring maintainability and scale.
* Support automated evaluation of prompts, skills, and agent behaviour throughout product lifecycles.
* Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to solve high‑priority challenges with agent‑based solutions.
Your Skills & Experience
* Strong commercial experience developing ML or LLM‑powered systems.
* Advanced Python engineering and cloud environment experience.
* Deep familiarity with LLM algorithms, limitations, and integration patterns.
* Experience with agent frameworks and building complex agentic workflows.
* Ability to work independently in fast‑paced, ambiguous settings.
What They Offer
* Competitive salary and full benefits package.
* Exposure to cutting‑edge agentic AI systems and large‑scale technical challenges.
* Significant impact on the evolution of next‑generation AI capabilities.
How to Apply
If you want to shape the future of AI‑driven workflows, send your application today.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
Pittsburgh
$160000 - $200000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Lead AI Engineer
Pittsburgh
Up to $200K base
This is a standout opportunity to shape the future of large‑scale agentic AI systems within a fast‑growing environment. You will take ownership of high‑impact initiatives, guiding the architecture, build, and deployment of cutting‑edge LLM‑powered agents used across complex workflows.
The Company
They are a technology‑driven organisation building AI‑enabled products that support mission‑critical decision‑making. Their teams work across data, engineering, and product to deliver tools that streamline highly complex operational challenges. With strong investment in AI innovation, they offer an environment where advanced experimentation and production‑grade delivery go hand in hand.
The Role
* Lead the technical direction of agentic AI development, from design through to deployment.
* Build multi‑agent systems with planning, memory, routing, and tool orchestration.
* Develop modular agent skills that integrate with backend systems and data pipelines.
* Establish observability and evaluation tooling to ensure robust and reliable agent behaviour.
* Guide and mentor Engineers and Data Scientists, driving technical best practice.
* Work closely with product teams to translate complex challenges into engineered solutions.
Your Skills & Experience
* Strong commercial experience building and productionising ML or LLM‑powered systems.
* Advanced Python engineering skills and experience with cloud infrastructure.
* Hands‑on expertise with LLM integrations and agent frameworks.
* Ability to lead technical delivery and operate effectively in ambiguous environments.
* Skilled in designing scalable, reliable AI architectures.
What They Offer
* Competitive salary with comprehensive benefits.
* A key leadership position with influence over the direction of core AI products.
* Career development within a high‑growth AI organisation.
How to Apply
If you are excited by leading cutting‑edge agentic AI development, apply today.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
City of London
£80000 - £90000
+ Data Science & AI
PermanentCity of London, London
To Apply for this Job Click Here
Senior AI Engineer
London – 1-2x week in office
Salary: £80,000 – £90,000
This is an exciting opportunity to join a business that is investing heavily in AI and modern cloud technologies. You will play a key role in building AI‑driven products that have a direct impact on customer experience, operational efficiency and the future of their platform.
The Company
They are a tech‑forward insurance organisation with a strong focus on delivering smarter, more personalised digital products. Their teams combine data, engineering and customer expertise to create solutions that simplify complex challenges for their users. Innovation, collaboration and a flexible working culture are at the heart of how they operate. They continue to scale their AI capability and are looking for someone who can help shape this next phase of growth.
The Role
In this AI Platform Engineer role, you will:
* Design, build and operate AI‑first products that deliver measurable value.
* Develop and deploy production‑grade AI agents on GCP using ADK, integrating with internal systems via REST and JSON APIs.
* Build and maintain robust evaluation and monitoring frameworks, including online and offline testing, A/B experiments and performance dashboards.
* Integrate AI agent functionality with applications through MCP servers and reliable tool configurations.
* Develop secure and scalable RAG pipelines, including ingestion, text processing, metadata handling and vector search in GCP.
* Embed security, compliance, GDPR controls and best‑practice engineering with clear documentation and stakeholder collaboration.
Your Skills and Experience
To be successful, you will bring:
* Strong Python skills for backend services, SDKs, API development, authentication and testing.
* Hands‑on experience working with LLMs, embeddings, prompt engineering, tool calling and RAG design.
* Practical knowledge of GCP services including Vertex AI, Model Garden, BigQuery, Cloud Run and Google’s ADK.
* Experience with document and data processing using tools such as Apache Tika, plus storage or caching technologies like Postgres, Redis, GCS or BigQuery.
* Solid DevOps practices including CI/CD, Docker, observability and automated testing.
* A product‑led mindset with a strong understanding of security, IAM, auditability and defining success metrics.
What They Offer
* Opportunities to shape AI products from the ground up.
* A collaborative environment that encourages innovation and career progression.
How to Apply
If you are excited about building production‑ready AI systems and want to drive meaningful impact, please apply with your CV.

To Apply for this Job Click Here
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News & Blog
With over 10 years experience working solely in the Data & AI sector our consultants are able to offer detailed insights into the industry.
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