Job Specifications
Senior ML / AI Engineer
London, UK (Hybrid)
£90k + equity
Are you ready to help build the next generation of AI-driven risk and compliance systems used by fast-growing fintechs and major financial institutions across the US, UK, Europe, MENA, and Asia?
Our client is an early-stage, high-growth AI company on a mission to transform how financial organisations automate due-diligence and fraud-prevention workflows. Their founders have previously built large-scale fraud and credit-risk systems protecting billions in transactions, and now they’re assembling a founding engineering team to push the boundaries of applied AI in financial services.
About the Role
As a Senior ML / AI Engineer, you’ll join as part of the founding team and take ownership of core AI systems from day one. This is a hands-on, high-impact role where you’ll architect, build, and scale agentic AI workflows that automate complex risk investigations for enterprise customers.
You’ll work across modern LLM infrastructure, data tooling, and production-grade systems to deploy robust AI experiences, while collaborating closely with users, product leaders, and the executive team. Expect fast iteration, direct customer exposure, and the opportunity to shape both the technology and the engineering culture from the ground up.
This role is ideal for someone who is obsessed with language models, deeply curious, and excited by the challenge of building real, production-ready AI systems in an environment with high autonomy and low bureaucracy.
What You’ll Be Doing
Within days:
Take full ownership of an initial module and ship improvements directly to production.
Build foundational LLM infrastructure — from data pipelines to tooling and integrations powering AI-driven workflows.
Engage directly with end-users to understand problems and deliver immediate value.
Within weeks:
Bring structure to fast-moving ML systems and drive clarity across the AI stack.
Lead customer feedback sessions and own the quality and outcomes of your modules.
Work directly with the CEO, CTO, and other founding engineers to mature engineering practices.
Within months:
Tackle complex scaling challenges across both technical systems and organisational growth.
Help define long-term product direction and influence strategic decisions.
The Tech Stack
Node.js
Python
TypeScript
React
AWS Serverless
What You’ll Bring
Deep curiosity and a passion for understanding customer problems, technical innovations, and domain-specific challenges.
Drive, hunger, and resilience — you thrive in early-stage environments with high pace and high ambiguity.
A strong sense of ownership; you take projects from idea to impact and value autonomy.
Humility and openness to feedback; you collaborate generously and learn continuously.
Pragmatism — you ship, iterate, and optimise instead of over-engineering.
Why Join?
Become a founding engineer with major ownership of both product and technical direction
Work on real, production-grade LLM and agent systems used by global fintechs and banks
Direct exposure to customers and immediate impact on business-critical workflows
High autonomy, low process, and the chance to build a category-defining AI product
Competitive salary (£90k) + equity
Join at a moment of rapid growth, strong customer traction, and global expansion
About the Company
At Impala Search, we are revolutionising the way companies thrive and grow by specialising in three key verticals: Talent Search, Capital Search, and Change Management.
Our Talent Search team empowers companies to scale their product development teams, equipping them with top-tier professionals in areas such as software engineering (including data and infrastructure), executive search, and sales.
Our Capital Search team bridges the gap between companies and investors, facilitating seamless communication throughout the fund...
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