{"id":2634799,"url":"https://alion.io/job/cosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence","title":"Applied ML Technical Lead, Defence","company":{"id":177875,"name":"Cosine","domain":"cosine.sh","url":"https://alion.io/company/cosine-2","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["London, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":111000,"max_usd":204000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":25},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"Git","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Multimodal AI","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"PyTorch","optional":false},{"name":"GDPR","optional":true},{"name":"Post-training","optional":true},{"name":"Sensor Fusion","optional":true},{"name":"Slack","optional":true},{"name":"Time Series Forecasting","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-15T14:07:30Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-15","last_verified_at":"2026-10-21T03:10:04Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":5,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":5},"description":"Job title: Applied ML Technical Lead, Defence\nLocation: London; full in-office working as default\nStart date: ASAP\nReports to: CEO\nCompensation: Salary and Equity options available for discussion\nClearance: Must be eligible to hold UK Security Vetting Clearance SC or above (no prior clearance required)\nApplication Deadline: 08/11/26 at 23:59 UK Time\n___________________________________________________________________________\nHelp put frontier AI to work in Defence\nCosine is a UK AI lab building models, applications and training infrastructure for mission-critical organisations.\nWe build coding agents that work across real software systems, specialised Lumen models, AI-native security products and the infrastructure needed to deploy advanced AI in demanding environments. Our customers include some of the world's largest enterprises, including organisations operating behind strict security, regulatory and technical constraints.\nWe're also training Lumen Sovereign, the first frontier large language model trained in the UK, with the support of the UK Government.\nWe're now looking for an Applied ML Technical Lead to help develop and deploy advanced AI capabilities for organisations operating in UK Defence and national security.\nThis is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will work across machine learning development, deployment and customer-facing technical delivery. You may spend part of your time training and evaluating models on complex sensor data, and part of your time working with Defence stakeholders to understand operational needs, shape priorities and guide delivery.\nYou will not be expected to act as a traditional project manager. Instead, you will own the technical direction and day-to-day progress of applied ML work, coordinating the people and decisions needed to turn promising research into useful operational capability.\n___________________________________________________________________________\nWhat you'll do\nBuild ML capabilities for real Defence problems\n\nDesign, build, train and evaluate machine learning models for challenging applied Defence and national security use cases.\n\nWork on problems involving complex sensor data, signal processing, pattern recognition, classification and multimodal intelligence.\n\nDevelop and improve model architectures, training pipelines, evaluation frameworks and inference systems.\n\nWork with real-world and synthetic datasets to improve model accuracy, robustness and generalisation.\n\nTranslate research prototypes into reliable, deployable capabilities that operate within demanding technical and security constraints.\n\nWork closely with Cosine's ML research and engineering teams while taking direct ownership of technical outcomes.\n\nLead technical delivery from prototype to deployment\nOwn the technical direction and day-to-day progress of applied ML projects.\n\nTurn operational objectives into concrete technical goals, experiments, milestones and success measures.\n\nCoordinate work across ML researchers, software engineers, infrastructure teams and external stakeholders.\n\nIdentify technical dependencies, delivery risks and blockers, and help drive them to resolution.\n\nEstablish clear evaluation criteria and demonstrate progress through measurable improvements and working capabilities.\n\nBalance hands-on engineering with the planning and coordination needed to keep complex technical work moving.\n\nWork directly with Defence customers\nEngage with technical and operational stakeholders across the UK Defence and national security ecosystem.\n\nUnderstand operational challenges and identify where machine learning can make a meaningful difference.\n\nTranslate customer requirements and constraints into technical objectives, datasets, experiments and delivery plans.\n\nPresent technical progress, demonstrate working capabilities and communicate results clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.\n\nBuild trusted relationships with Defence stakeholders and act as a credible technical counterpart.\n\nHelp customers understand the practical considerations of integrating and deploying ML systems in their existing environments.\n\nTurn research into operational capability\nHelp deploy ML models into real-world environments, including secure, on-premise and resource-constrained systems.\n\nWork on model optimisation, inference performance, integration and reliability.\n\nDevelop robust approaches to evaluation, validation and continuous model improvement.\n\nUnderstand data availability, access requirements, security restrictions and deployment constraints.\n\nEstablish feedback loops between operational users and Cosine's engineering teams.\n\nEnsure that what we build is not only technically impressive, but genuinely useful to the people relying on it.\n\n___________________________________________________________________________\nWhat we’re looking for\nYou'll probably have a background in applied machine learning, ML engineering, research engineering or a similarly technical role, along with experience taking ownership of complex technical work.\nYou should be comfortable:\nWriting production-quality Python and working with modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch.\n\nBuilding, training, fine-tuning and evaluating machine learning models.\n\nWorking with complex datasets, designing experiments and interpreting model performance.\n\nUnderstanding the trade-offs between model performance, compute requirements, latency and deployment constraints.\n\nWorking with engineering infrastructure, including Git, containers, Linux and GPU compute.\n\nTaking technical ownership of projects with multiple stakeholders, uncertain requirements and evolving priorities.\n\nCommunicating technical concepts clearly to researchers, engineers, senior stakeholders and operational users.\n\nMoving between model development, customer discussions and delivery planning without losing technical depth.\n\nMaking sound technical judgements, prioritising effectively and finding practical solutions when the path forward is unclear.\n\nYou don't need to have worked in Defence before. You do need to be excited by the opportunity to apply advanced ML to difficult, consequential real-world problems.\n\nNice to have\nExisting UK security clearance, such as SC or DV, or previous experience working in secure Defence environments.\n\nExperience with signal processing, time-series data, sensor fusion, representation learning or machine learning applied to complex real-world datasets.\n\nExperience with foundation models, multimodal learning or advanced model training and post-training techniques.\n\nExperience deploying ML models to edge devices or constrained compute environments.\n\nFamiliarity with UK Defence procurement, technical assurance or the national security landscape.\n\nExperience leading technical workstreams or working as a technical lead on customer-facing ML projects.\n\n___________________________________________________________________________\nWhat success looks like\nIn your first three months, we would expect you to:\nBecome the technical lead for a major applied Defence ML programme, with responsibility for its day-to-day technical progress.\n\nBuild strong working relationships with Cosine's ML researchers, engineers and key Defence customer stakeholders.\n\nDevelop a clear understanding of the existing models, datasets, technical architecture and operational objectives.\n\nEstablish a focused delivery plan with clear priorities, milestones, ownership and success measures.\n\nMake meaningful hands-on contributions to model development, evaluation or deployment.\n\nIdentify and begin addressing the most important technical and operational blockers.\n\nDemonstrate tangible progress to customer stakeholders and build confidence in Cosine's ability to deliver.\n\nLonger term, you'll help take advanced ML capabilities from promising prototypes into operational use, while shaping how Cosine builds and delivers applied AI for Defence and other mission-critical organisations.\n\n___________________________________________________________________________\nWhy this role matters\nSome of the most important applications of AI won't be found in consumer products. They'll be in environments where information is incomplete, systems are complex, security matters and the consequences of getting things wrong are significant.\nCosine is working to bring frontier machine learning into those environments.\nDoing that requires more than good models. It requires people who can understand an operational problem, build something that works, make good technical decisions, coordinate the work needed to deliver it and stay close to the customer until it creates real value.\nYou'll have unusual proximity to cutting-edge ML research, senior Defence stakeholders and the operational challenges that will shape the next generation of AI capabilities.\nThis role will suit someone who is technically strong enough to build, organised enough to lead technical delivery and curious enough to engage directly with the people using the technology.\nIf you enjoy being close to the research, close to customers and personally accountable for turning ambitious technology into something real, come and work with us.\nCome help make frontier AI useful where it matters most.\n___________________________________________________________________________\n Cosine is an equal opportunity employer.\nWe value diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and ways of thinking, and we’re committed to creating an inclusive and respectful workplace.\nWe encourage applications from anyone who meets the role requirements, even if you don’t meet every single qualification. If you need reasonable adjustments at any stage of the hiring process, we’re happy to discuss them.\n___________________________________________________________________________\nCompensation, Benefits & Ways of Working\nWe’re an in-office team, five days a week, by design. We believe the work we’re doing benefits from being together, collaborating closely, and building shared context.\nWhat you can expect:\nCompetitive salary, benchmarked to the market\n\nEquity / share options, so you share in the upside you help create\n\n30 days’ holiday + bank holidays\n\nWork hard in the office, collaborate closely, and switch off properly\n\nDog-friendly office - bring your dog to work\n\nWeekly team breakfast & lunch\n\nMonthly socials\n\nPension\n\nHigh-quality equipment to do your best work\n\nWe care about focus, sustainability, and doing great work - not performative overwork. We value people who show up, contribute thoughtfully, collaborate well with their colleagues, and then go home.\nThis role won’t suit everyone. But if you’re looking for a fast-moving environment, close collaboration, and a team that takes both the work and work-life balance seriously, it’s a great place to be.\n___________________________________________________________________________\nAgency & Data Protection Notice\nTo comply with UK GDPR and our internal data-protection and equal-opportunity obligations, we only accept candidate applications and agency submissions via our Applicant Tracking System (ATS). This ensures appropriate privacy notices, lawful processing, audibility, and consistent retention controls.\nAny CVs or candidate details received outside the ATS (including via email, Slack, or direct message) will be treated as unsolicited, will not be considered as part of the recruitment process, and will not give rise to any fee or payment obligation.","description_format":"text","description_chars":11437,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Stock options"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["AI Agents","Code Intelligence"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-15T17:10:16Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":4,"expected_fill_days":30,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-20T05:45:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/cosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/cosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-21T04:45:51Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":6976,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-22T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":177875},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=177875"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/cosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcosine-applied-ml-technical-lead-defence"}]}