AI Research Lead
At a glance
Senior AI Research role at ALTEN. Derby · full-time · no salary stated · we estimate £78,230–£127,625 across the United Kingdom.
ALTEN has not published a salary for this role. The figure below is our estimate, not theirs.
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Lead research on LLMs, vision-language models and multimodal AI, then turn findings into deployable solutions
- Build and assess models that work with text, images and multimodal reasoning
- Create and improve RAG pipelines, and adapt foundation models to specific business needs
- Set up experiments and benchmarks to test model quality, robustness and safety
- Shape cloud-based AI architectures and guide engineers as research moves into production
What you bring
- You hold a degree in engineering, computer science, AI, robotics, electronics or another related STEM field, or have equivalent military experience
- You bring hands-on depth in LLMs, vision-language systems, multimodal reasoning, fine-tuning and RAG implementation
- You have advanced Python skills and experience building scalable AI services, APIs and backend integrations
- You can design scientific evaluations and move research prototypes into production-grade systems
- You have worked with cloud platforms, Docker, Kubernetes and distributed or microservices architectures
Who this fits
This senior technical role suits someone who can lead research while staying close to implementation and production engineering. The position is based in Derby with hybrid working. You may need to hold or obtain Security Clearance, and onboarding includes a Baseline Personnel Security Standard check.
From the employer
ALTEN is a global engineering and technology consultancy operating across over 35 countries worldwide. We partner with industry leaders across sectors including Aeronautics, Aerospace, Defence, Naval, Automotive, Energy, Rail, IT and many more to deliver innovative engineering solutions that drive technological advancement & support sustainable transformation.
Our teams of passionate and agile engineers work on cutting-edge projects that shape the future of technology and sustainability. At ALTEN, we empower talented engineers to innovate, solve complex challenges, and deliver impactful solutions that build tomorrow’s world—today.
Join us and start building tomorrow’s world today!
We are seeking an experienced AI Research Lead to drive the research, development, and deployment of next-generation AI solutions, with a particular focus on Large Language Models (LLMs), Vision Language Models (VLMs), Computer Vision, and Multimodal AI systems.
This role is ideal for a highly technical professional who can bridge cutting-edge research and production engineering, translating innovative concepts into scalable, real-world solutions. You will lead AI initiatives, design experimentation frameworks, and provide technical leadership across multimodal AI projects.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead research and development activities across LLM, VLM, and multimodal AI domains.
- Design, implement, and evaluate AI models incorporating text, image, and multimodal reasoning capabilities.
- Develop and optimise Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures.
- Drive experimentation, model evaluation, benchmarking, and validation activities.
- Fine-tune and adapt foundation models for business-specific use cases.
- Collaborate with engineering teams to transition research outputs into production-ready systems.
- Define AI system architectures leveraging cloud-native and distributed computing environments.
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to AI engineers and researchers.
- Stay current with the latest academic and industry advancements in AI and machine learning.
Required Skills:
AI & Multimodal Systems
- Expertise with Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT, Llama, Mistral, or equivalent.
- Experience with Vision Language Models (VLMs) including CLIP, BLIP, and related multimodal architectures.
- Strong understanding of prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and model optimisation.
- Experience designing and implementing RAG pipelines.
- Deep knowledge of multimodal AI, vision-language fusion, and reasoning systems.
- Experience evaluating model performance, robustness, and safety.
Software Engineering
- Advanced Python development skills.
- Experience building scalable AI services and APIs.
- Strong backend development and integration experience.
- Knowledge of software engineering best practices and MLOps workflows.
Cloud & Infrastructure
- Experience with Microsoft Azure (preferred), AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
- Containerisation using Docker.
- Orchestration using Kubernetes and/or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
- Experience designing microservices-based and distributed architectures.
Research & Innovation Capabilities
- Expertise in experiment design and scientific evaluation methodologies.
- Ability to rapidly prototype, test, and validate AI concepts.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Proven ability to transform research findings into production-grade solutions.
- Passion for innovation and emerging AI technologies.
Required Qualifications:
- A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, or equivalent military experience or a degree in
- Computer Science
- Artificial Intelligence
- Robotics
- Electrical & Electronic Engineering
- Related STEM discipline
Desirable Skills:
- Generative AI product development.
- Computer Vision and image understanding systems.
- AI agent frameworks and autonomous workflows.
- Knowledge graphs and semantic retrieval systems.
- MLOps and model deployment pipelines.
- Team leadership or technical management experience.
Why join us?
We bring together entrepreneurial, tech-driven people to deliver innovative solutions for leading companies.
At ALTEN, you’ll work on exciting projects, supported by ongoing learning, mentoring, and clear career development tailored to your goals.
Join a passionate team and help build tomorrow, today.
In short you get:
- A personalised career path and a rewarding management style
- A huge diversity of engineering projects and industries
- Private Medical Insurance
- Cycle & Tech Scheme
- Employee assistance programme
- Life insurance & Pension Scheme
- Social atmosphere, regular gatherings & team buildings
- Flexible way of working (role dependent)
We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant & actively encourage applications from members of the Armed Forces community, including veterans, reservists, service leavers, and military spouses/partners. We recognise the value of military skills and experience and are committed to ensuring that no applicant is unfairly disadvantaged during our recruitment and selection processes.
ALTEN is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and values the strength that comes from a global mix of backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of background or protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.
This role may require you to have or be willing to go through Security Clearance. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard; details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website Gov.UK. If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria, then your employment may be delayed, or rejected . Details of this will be discussed with you at interview.