Principal AI Engineer - - AI and Cloud Consultancy

Principal AI Engineer Remote (Office visits once a quarter) £90k - £120k We are working with a fast-growing Microsoft-focused technology services business that has tripled its revenue in five years, building out practices across M365, Azure, AWS, AI and automation. Its AI practice already delivers Copilot rollouts, agent augmentation and governed AI platforms for enterprise and public sector clients, with over 150 agents built and managed to date. Key responsibilities include:

• Owning end-to-end delivery of AI solutions across Azure AI Foundry, Copilot and custom agents, from scoping through to production.
• Designing and running agent harnesses and controls so client deployments are safe, governed and reliable at scale.
• Translating client business problems into practical AI solutions, and being clear-eyed about where AI adds value and where it does not.
• Building the AI engineering function, hiring one by one and setting the standards the team works to.
• Working closely with sales and leadership on pre-sales, solution design and shaping new products (around 20% client-facing). What we are looking for:
• You have delivered AI solutions into production on the Microsoft stack, ideally with Azure and Azure AI Foundry. Hands-on Copilot and Visual Studio experience is a major plus.
• You are a solutions-minded generalist rather than a pure developer, comfortable moving between business problems and technical build. A pre-sales to engineering background is ideal.
• You have strong internal stakeholder skills and can hold your own with leadership as well as clients.
• You bring ambition and personality, and want to build a practice and a team, not just a backlog.
• Microsoft Fabric knowledge, consultancy experience, or familiarity with agent frameworks, RAG and evals are all a bonus. There is no fixed years-of-experience requirement: the right traits matter more than tenure.