Lead Software Developer, AI

Company Overview

Our client is a large, global technology-led organisation operating in a highly regulated, mission-critical domain. The business builds and maintains platforms that operate at significant scale, supporting complex workflows and high-volume data across multiple regions.

Technology is central to how the organisation delivers value, with strong investment in cloud platforms, modern engineering practices, and applied AI. Teams are encouraged to innovate responsibly, balancing experimentation with the rigour required in enterprise environments.

Job Overview

An opportunity has arisen for a Lead Software Engineer (Generative AI) to join a growing advanced engineering function based in Cork.

This is a senior, hands-on leadership role for someone who enjoys setting technical direction while remaining close to the code. You will help shape the design, development, and deployment of Generative AI solutions that are being rolled out across multiple business areas.

Working closely with senior engineering leadership, this role offers real influence over architecture, tooling, and best practice, as well as the chance to mentor engineers and help define how AI is responsibly adopted at scale.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and architectural guidance across Generative AI initiatives.
• Design and oversee scalable, secure, cloud-based AI solutions in an enterprise environment.
• Lead delivery across multiple workstreams, ensuring alignment with business priorities and technical standards.
• Collaborate with product, data, security, and platform teams to define requirements and deliver outcomes.
• Establish and promote best practices across software engineering, DevOps, and AI development.
• Mentor and support engineers, creating a culture of learning, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to AI strategy, technology selection, and longer-term roadmap planning.
• Ensure solutions meet security, privacy, and regulatory expectations.
• Support production systems when required, including incident analysis and resolution.
• Act as a positive role model for inclusive, collaborative engineering culture.

Requirements

Essential Experience & Skills

• Extensive experience in software engineering, including several years in a technical leadership or architecture role.
• Proven track record delivering complex, enterprise-grade systems.
• Strong hands-on experience with Generative AI and Large Language Models.
• Solid cloud engineering background, including AI services and distributed systems.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and modern development workflows (Git, CI/CD).
• Experience with containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Strong API design experience, including authentication and authorisation patterns.
• Infrastructure as Code experience (e.g. Terraform).
• Relational database experience (SQL, ORMs, PostgreSQL/MySQL).
• Comfortable working in Linux environments with scripting and automation.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to influence across teams and seniority levels.
• Experience working in environments with governance, compliance, and cost considerations.

Desirable / Advantageous

• Experience with document processing or content understanding solutions.
• Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks or orchestration layers.
• Exposure to model-to-model communication patterns or emerging AI protocols.
• Degree in Computer Science or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

If this role sounds of interest, feel free to apply or get in touch for a confidential conversation to learn more about the team, the work, and the wider opportunity.