Staff Engineer Decision Support & Planning Optimization

Overview

As Staff Engineer, you will lead AI-powered decision-making and planning applications for R&D, shaping how data, knowledge and workflows drive engineering outcomes. You collaborate with cross-functional teams to build durable, scalable AI-enabled platforms and knowledge management systems. You’ll mentor engineers, ensure robust testing and security, and push for high-quality, auditable solutions. This role offers impact at scale within a global, research-driven environment.

Pay / Benefits

• generous pension scheme
• bonus scheme
• private medical & life insurance
• up to 31.5 days annual holiday
• flexible working
• international environment

Responsibilities

• Lead backend engineering efforts using Python or Java to deliver scalable systems
• Architect and design APIs for durable, scalable services
• Oversee document ingestion and retrieval patterns for knowledge systems
• Apply text embeddings and retrieval workloads to AI-enhanced engineering tasks
• Advise on AI-assisted engineering with rigorous review processes
• Ensure security best practices and audit-ready compliance throughout development
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and foster technical excellence
• Develop comprehensive testing strategies (unit, integration, end-to-end)
• Collaborate with engineering, product, and scientific teams to translate complex needs into solutions
• Create and maintain technical docs, architecture diagrams, and knowledge repositories
• Set high standards for quality, documentation, and responsible AI usage
• Optimize performance and scalability to handle growing data and user demands
• Promote cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing

Key requirements

• Experience in Python or Java backend engineering
• Experience in software architecture and API design
• Experience in document ingestion and retrieval patterns
• Experience in text embeddings and retrieval-oriented workloads
• Experience in AI-assisted engineering with rigorous review
• Experience in React or Angular awareness
• Experience in quality and documentation standards
• Strong communication and stakeholder influence
• Mentorship and team leadership of junior/mid-level engineers
• Fluent English, written and spoken

• strong communication
• mentorship
• influence across stakeholders
• Python or Java backend engineering
• software architecture and API design
• document ingestion and retrieval

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