{"id":2590028,"url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-bing-senior-applied-ai-engineer-defence","title":"Senior Applied AI Engineer (Defence)","company":{"id":2037,"name":"Microsoft Bing","domain":"bing.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/microsoft-bing","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":9,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-22T06:10:10Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":91000,"max_usd":171000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_remote_cell","sample_n":40},"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Fine-tuning","optional":false},{"name":"LLM","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"RAG","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-14T12:41:37Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-22T11:19:55Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":8,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":8},"description":"Senior Applied AI Engineer (Defence)\nLocation: Newcastle upon Tyne\nSecurity clearance: must be eligible for UK SC-level security clearance (UK national)\nVisa sponsorship: we are not able to sponsor visas for this role\nClosing date: applications reviewed on a rolling basis\nAbout Neptune North\nNeptune North is a high-performing technical consultancy. We build data, AI and software solutions for clients in defence, financial services and private capital, working on demanding problems in challenging environments.\nWe were founded in 2024 as a joint venture between Oliver Wyman and Rokos Capital Management. We’re headquartered in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, with a growing international footprint, and we’re recruiting exceptional engineers across every level.\nThe role\nWe’re looking for a Senior Applied AI Engineer to deliver AI-enabled applications for defence and to help provide technical oversight to a new and rapidly growing team. You will help lead, define and strengthen the applied AI capabilities that differentiate Neptune North and build a trusted reputation across defence clients. Potential projects might include fully engineered solutions, Proof of Concepts (POCs), and applied research to support future defence-relevant capabilities.\nResponsibilities\nInfluence the technical direction and play a key role in strengthening Neptune North’s AI capabilities\nProvide leadership/hands-on delivery in a wide range of AI projects\nWork directly with clients to shape requirements, manage expectations, and to build trust\nContribute to winning work by helping to write compelling bids and high-quality technical proposals\nAdvocate knowledge sharing across the team and identify opportunities for reuse of capabilities\nRegularly provide career and technical mentorship to other engineers to build a high calibre team\nDemonstrate flexibility in taking on work aligned to evolving company priorities\nRemain up to date with the latest developments in AI and advise on nascent technologies in the field\nWhat makes a great candidate\nYou don't need to meet every requirement to apply. If this role excites you, we'd like to hear from you.\nSenior Applied AI Engineer:\nMinimum 5 years employment experience delivering and/or overseeing AI-enabled applications and workflows\nExperience integrating AI components into applications and workflows, such as building Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems\nExperience designing prompts and managing context for LLM applications\nA solid understanding of LLM principles and transformer architectures, backed by core machine learning concepts and statistical methods\nPractical experience evaluating LLMs and mitigating their weaknesses\nExperience running AI applications in production, including monitoring and optimisation\nExperience fine tuning or adapting models for specific scenarios, such as a specialist application or deployment to low power hardware\nExperience building agentic systems, where models plan and act across several steps\nJudgement about the risks and limitations of AI, including knowing when a statistical model or deterministic logic is the better choice\nGeneral:\nStrong programming skills, typically in Python, and experience in one or more other modern programming languages\nA solid understanding of software engineering processes, and a drive to embed best practices in teams\nExcellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to adapt communication according to the audience\nAbility to work effectively with ambiguity, while maintaining a disciplined, outcome-focused approach\nExperience leading teams, with enthusiasm for sharing knowledge and collaborating\nStrong academic foundations, typically a first-class from a leading university in Computer Science, Mathematics, AI, or a data related discipline\nExperience in defence or national security is a strong plus\nWhat you can achieve\nShape AI solutions that strengthen UK defence and national security\nPlay a critical role in building and nurturing a rapidly expanding team \nGain broad experience across interesting AI challenges applied to challenging environments \nContribute to meaningful technical decisions as part of a collaborative, low-ego engineering team\nWhy join us\nWork on a wide variety of interesting problems alongside high-calibre colleagues. Our culture is collaborative and supportive. Neptune North is a place where people help each other grow and feel a real sense of belonging\n25 days’ holiday allowance plus bank holidays\nMatching pension contributions up to 6%\nPrivate health insurance through Bupa\nDiscretionary bonus\nTravel\nNeptune North works with clients across the UK’s defence sector. Many engagements involve regular travel and time on client site. This could mean two to three days per week over an entire assignment, or shorter periods of full-time on-site working anywhere in the UK, at sites including Cheltenham, Bristol, Glasgow, Portsmouth or other defence hubs. We support travelling staff with full expenses and hotel arrangements, and we discuss client placements with you in advance. We are looking for engineers who see this variety as part of the appeal of consultancy work rather than a downside.\nInterview process\nOur interview process is rigorous because the standard internally is high. For this role, it has three stages:\nWritten questions, which you complete at a time that suits you\nA first interview covering your CV, experience and career aspirations\nA technical interview with members of our engineering team\nEquity, diversity and inclusion\nAt Neptune North we are committed to a work environment that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion. We believe diverse backgrounds, perspectives and experiences help us attract, develop and retain the best talent. 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