Lead AI Engineer

Job summary

AI technology is rapidly evolving and there is immense opportunity to harness this capability to transform delivery at MHCLG. The new AI directorate at MHCLG is driving forward AI development and adoption across the department and support to partners in local government.

We are looking for a passionate and enthusiastic lead AI engineer to join our team and be at the leading edge of AI delivery in a central government department, to deliver high-impact projects at pace to improve outcomes and productivity. You will unlock new approaches through the adoption of AI tools and techniques to build the evidence base that drives smarter, more impactful decisions. You will contribute to the discovery, pilot, implementation and scaling of AI projects by the Directorate, developing models for secure, ethical and effective AI tools that deliver high value opportunities and improve outcomes.

You will join a multi-disciplinary team of technical experts (including data engineers, data scientists, developers, user research, delivery managers, service owners) with an ambitious and exciting remit to harness the potential of AI, working on high impact projects that deliver operational efficiencies and support policy development through the rapid prototyping and scaling of products and services. You will be forward deployed , working collaboratively across the organisation and with external partners, interacting with a range of stakeholders to explore, build and maintain foundational AI capability and champion the role and impact of AI in the process.

Job description

As a Lead AI Engineer, you'll:

• Work within agile, multidisciplinary teams to identify, develop, configure and deliver AI / machine learning models so they can be used in products and services, defining minimum viable products (MVPs) and iterating based on user needs
• Engaging with programme leads and stakeholders to ensure approaches are appropriate and outputs meet end-user expectations
• Lead workstreams to identify, develop, configure and deliver AI models for AI prototyping and scaling, testing and production and assuring them to ensure they meet performance requirements
• Working closely with others to integrate models into existing systems
• Take responsibility for ensuring models used in live products and services stay safe, secure and continue to work effectively, apply your knowledge of policies relating to AI ethics and responsible use
• Work with stakeholders to identify and address ethical and privacy concerns. Research and apply developments in data ethics and privacy to improve compliance and processes
• Confidently define / build / configure AI models to support AI delivery in line with best practice and standards
• Use agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using the right standards and tools
• Establish enterprise-scale AI deployment / life cycle working in collaboration with Digital / Cyber / Data Protection and Knowledge Information Management teams
• Continuously improve delivery by identifying potential efficiencies and savings in existing processes, ensuring resources are utilised appropriately
• Lead on collaboration and building AI capability while supporting the continuous development and upskilling of the wider technical team
• Line or matrix manage junior members of the team and interns as required, providing support to their learning and development
• Role model and champion your role in AI across the organisation and more widely across government and have a curiosity for the latest trends in GenAI, LLMOps, and ML more broadly

Person specification

As a Lead AI Engineer, you'll have:

• A passion for utilising data and AI responsibly for the public good and to improve citizens lives
• Experience building end-to-end LLM applications (prompt engineering, data models, API integration, input/output handling, training, monitoring)
• Python expertise: strong experience with core libraries and writing clear, modular, reusable code with error handling and logging
• Cloud and tooling skills: experience working with Azure or AWS; and familiarity with version control (Git/GitHub), command line, and IDEs
• Software engineering practices: unit testing (e.g. pytest), code reviews, and general good practice in collaborative development
• Applied data science skills: strong grounding in statistics and a range of standard techniques (supervised/unsupervised ML, cross-validation, time-series, NLP basics, SQL)
• Communication skills: able to explain technical work clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, manage active and reactive communication, support or host difficult discussions within the team or with diverse senior stakeholders
• Delivery and collaboration skills: proactive, self-motivated, organised, and effective at working to deadlines as part of a team
• Proven and relevant professional experience in a data science or related field, or a combination of qualifications/certifications and experience that demonstrates technical capability

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,167, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £16,271 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Application and Selection

The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours , Experience , Technical

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important: Your CV and Cover Letter must be merged into a single document before uploading.

Stage 1: Sift (CV & Covering Letter)

Experience & Technical: Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: "Seeing The Big Picture", "Changing and Improving", "Communicating and Influencing", "Delivering at Pace"
• Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.
• Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description*.

*Candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation, further details will be provided on invitation to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 16th March 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 30th March 2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

Group 1 Digital & Data Roles

MHCLG has implemented the Digital and Data capability framework for Group 1 roles. Applicants that are successful and have been offered a position will be required to complete a capability assessment after the interview.

MHCLG will honour completed capability assessments for this role from other Government Departments for existing civil servants on level transfer only.Please provide a copy of your capability assessment to the Hiring Manager when applying. If you have any queries on pay, please contact the Hiring Manager.

Each experience or technical skill is assessed between 1-3, representing working towards, at or above the job level requirements. You are awarded a proficiency level accordingly, and you will be given opportunity to annually re assess your capability and potentially increase your overall remuneration, through payment of allowances, depending on level of assessed capability.

Candidates moving from another government department have the option to retain their current basic pay if this is within our pay band for the relevant grade.

Grade 7 Group 1 Digital and Data salary

• The basic pay for this role will be between £61,745 - £72,112 (London), £56,167 - £66,581 (National). Candidates will usually be recruited to the median of the payscale.
• A digital allowance may also be payable depending on the level of assessed capability, in order to meet the MHCLG overall targeted remuneration rate for the specific grade, location and capability rating.
• For applicants in receipt of existing allowances, we will assess each case individually, but we would seek not to exceed the MHCLG overall targeted remuneration rate for the specific grade, location and capability rating for existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply, subject to the statements above.

How We Recruit

Find out everything you need to know before applying here..

• Applying
• Sifting
• Interview
• Interview Results & Feedback
• Reserve List
• Near Miss
• Civil Service Grades
• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer
• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

What you need to know before applying.

• Security Clearance Requirements
• Civil Service Nationality Requirements
• Right to Work
• Artificial Intelligence
• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles
• CV Declaration
• Sponsorships
• Salary and Grade
• Existing Civil Servants
• Conflict of Interest
• Location and Flexible Working
• Fixed Term Contracts
• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register
• Appeals and Complaints
• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office: + SC

London Office: + SC

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Digital Data Jobs
• Email : Digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - Recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:
•a procedural irregularity
•an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy
•exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.
It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at Recruitment@communities.gov.uk.
If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk