Senior ML Engineer

Location: London, UK (on-site preferred; remote with monthly visit possible)

Job Type: Full-time | Senior

Our Client: VC-backed AI/ML start-up

Work Authorization

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• Must have the right to work in the UK or be able to obtain it
  
• On-site presence in London preferred
  
• Remote candidates must commit to at least monthly London visits
  
• Visa sponsorship not available
  

Our client is developing a novel foundation model to enable fully automated, unsupervised software delivery in embedded control systems. As a VC-backed, early-stage AI company based in West London, they are building the core ML stack from first principles.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on architecting, optimizing, and deploying large-scale foundation models in a high-urgency, high-impact environment.

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• Lead research, development, and production deployment of the foundation model
  
• Define long-term technical strategy for high-performance ML systems
  
• Optimize models across diverse hardware environments
  
• Architect scalable distributed training and inference pipelines
  
• Build GPU-accelerated components, including custom CUDA kernels
  
• Profile and optimize the full ML stack end-to-endCreate internal tooling, benchmarks, and evaluation harnesses
  
• Work closely with founders to translate product goals into technical roadmaps
  

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• Python and CUDA C/C++
  
• PyTorch (preferred) or similar deep learning frameworks
  
• Distributed training and large-scale inference systems
  
• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
  

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• Proven experience designing and implementing large-scale foundation models
  
• Strong hands-on performance optimization and debugging skills
  
• Practical experience with distributed training and inference
  
• Deep knowledge of modern deep learning frameworks
  
• Experience operating ML systems in production environments
  
• High urgency, xcfaprz ownership mindset, and comfort with ambiguity
  

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• Internal ML tooling or benchmarking experience
  
• Containerisation and orchestration exposure
  
• Embedded or control systems background
  
• Experience at top-tier AI/ML companies or research labs
  

• 
  
• Ground-floor role shaping a novel foundation model
  
• Direct collaboration with founders
  
• High technical ownership and strategic influence
  
• Streamlined interview process (2 stages)
  

If you've built and optimized foundation-scale models and want real technical ownership in an ambitious AI start-up, we'd love to meet you...