Principal AI Engineer

We’re looking for an enthusiastic and opinionated Principal AI Engineer to define how AI agents transform Engineering workflows across industries such as Manufacturing, Aerospace, and Semi-conductor. You'll be building the foundations that power next-generation simulation and design tools used by industry-leading engineering teams. Our platform allows Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) and customers to build and deploy deep learning surrogates that solve massive engineering challenges.

Your mission is to architect the Agentic stack within this wider ecosystem. You will build a production-grade platform that enables our Product teams, FDEs, and customers to compose advanced AI workflows safely, transparently, and reliably.

• You will set the strategic direction for our platform's critical infrastructure and lead key implementation efforts.
• You are someone with the scar tissue of running agents in production.
• You have strong, reasoned opinions on emerging open standards (such as MCP, A2A, and ACP) and deep expertise in complex architectural patterns like durable execution and agent memory.
• You are passionate about building a world-class developer experience that transforms complex research into robust, deployed engineering solutions.

You will serve as the principal architect for our Agentic ecosystem, responsible for the high-level design choices that define how agents run at PhysicsX. You will cover topics such as:

• Agent Observability: Own the implementation to enforce deep tracing, granular cost tracking, and observability across the lifecycle.
• Agent Deployment: Deliver an intuitive deployment lifecycle which simplifies questions around auth, discoverability and resource requirements.
• Agent Sandboxing: Architect secure environments to isolate and allow agents to operate safely.
• Agent Evals: Implement a stack that empowers domain experts to efficiently annotate traces, turning qualitative feedback into quantitative, reproducible evaluation datasets.
• Agent Governance: Implement robust identity and access patterns to ensure agents can safely and correctly act on behalf of users in a regulated enterprise environment.

• Core Platform: Python (Primary), Go or TypeScript (Secondary), Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform.
• Agentic Infrastructure: LangGraph/LangChain, Temporal (Durable Execution), Vector DBs (Pinecone/Weaviate).
• Observability & Evals: OTel, LangSmith, Arize, Braintrust.

• An Architect at Heart: You have strong, reasoned opinions on Durable Execution vs. Standard Async, Vector Search vs. Keyword Search, and Prompt Management strategies.
• Platform-First: You care deeply about the Developer Experience (DevEx) of the Customers, FDEs consuming your platform. You build tools that make the "right way" the "easy way."
• Security-Minded: You understand the risks of allowing LLMs to execute code and access data, and you know how to mitigate them via rigid sandboxing and permissioning.

• Platform & Backend Foundations:
  • 4+ years of experience in Platform Engineering, Backend, or SRE.
  • Strong proficiency in Python/Go, Kubernetes, Docker, and IaC (Terraform).
• Agentic & AI Engineering:
  • Production experience designing Agentic architectures (chains, tools, memory).
  • Familiarity with Agentic frameworks (LangGraph, PydanticAI) and patterns like durable execution.
  • Understanding of LLM-specific lifecycle issues: non-determinism, systematic evals, and token-based cost tracking.

• Background in Engineering workflows or simulation platforms.
• Experience building internal developer platforms (IDPs).

What we offer

Build what actually matters

Help shape an AI-native engineering company at a formative stage, tackling problems that genuinely matter for industry and society. This is work with real-world impact - and something you can be proud to stand behind.

Learn alongside exceptional people

Work with a high-caliber, collaborative team of engineers, scientists, and operators who care deeply about doing great work, and about helping each other get better. We come from diverse backgrounds, but we share a commitment to operating at the highest level and addressing some of the most complex challenges out there. If you’re ambitious, thoughtful, and driven by impact, you’ll feel at home.

Influence over hierarchy

We operate with a flat structure: good ideas win - wherever they come from. Questioning assumptions and challenging the status quo isn’t just welcomed, it’s expected.

Sustainable pace, long-term ambition

Building meaningful technology is a marathon, not a sprint. We believe in balancing focused, ambitious work with a life beyond it. Our hybrid model blends time together in our Shoreditch office with work-from-home days, giving you the flexibility to work sustainably while staying connected in person.

And it doesn’t stop there …

🚀 Equity options - share meaningfully in the company you’re helping to build.

🏦 10% employer pension contribution - because investing in future matters.

🍽️ Free office lunches - to keep you energised and focused.

👶 Enhanced parental leave - 3 months full pay paternity and 6 months full pay maternity leave, to provide extra flexibility during the moments that matter most.

🍼 YellowNest nursery scheme - to help working parents manage childcare costs.

☀️ 25 days of Annual Leave (+ Public Holidays) - because taking time to rest matters.

🏥 Private medical insurance - 100% employee cover, giving you complete peace of mind.

💪 Wellhub Subscription - gain access to thousands of gyms, classes and wellness apps, supporting both physical and mental wellbeing.

👀 Eye tests - because good work depends on good health.

📈 Personal development - dedicated support for learning, development, and leveling up over time.

💛 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) - confidential wellbeing support, available whenever you need it.

🚲 Bike2Work scheme and 🚆 Season ticket loan - to make getting to work easier and greener.

🚗 Octopus EV salary sacrifice - for a simpler, more sustainable way to drive electric.

🔎 Watch this space, we’re continuing to build this as we grow…