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Wave Talent

AI Engineer/Researcher

Hybrid

London, United kingdom

£ 130,000 /year

Full Time

04-02-2026

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Skills

Python Test Research Synthetic Data Databases Django Flask FastAPI Large Language Models Mathematics NLP

Job Specifications

Job Title: AI Engineer/Researcher

Salary: £80-130k, DOE

Location: Soho (4 office days/week)

Benefits:

Unlimited annual leave + remote working around holidays if you wish
8% employer pension contribution
Comprehensive health insurance
£1,000 L&D budget to use as you see fit

Industry: B2B - AI Research - Synthetic Data

Team: ~20

Funding: Seed stage

VISA sponsorship available if needed

This early-stage, well-funded start up is building advanced AI systems that model and simulate complex real-world behaviour at scale. Their platform enables organisations to test decisions, scenarios and strategies using large-scale AI-driven simulations, dramatically reducing time-to-insight compared to traditional approaches.

Following a strong early traction and funding injection, they're looking for 2x AI Engineers with deep Research expertise to join a small, highly technical team working at the intersection of large language models, agent systems and scalable backend infrastructure.

In this role, you’ll work across agent cognition, memory, reasoning and orchestration, while ensuring the underlying platform is performant, cost-efficient and production-ready. You'll be:

formulating research questions about human / agent behaviour
designing experiments on synthetic populations
validating model behaviour against real-world data
deciding what architectures and methods should exist, not just implementing them

The perfect candidate would ideally have experience with LLMs / agent development as well as backend engineering, but the most critical part of the role is definitely deep research expertise,

making it ideal for someone who enjoys experimentation and research-driven iteration, but also cares about robust system design and real-world deployment.

Must have requirements:

PhD / MSc or substantial research experience in AI, ML, CS, Cognitive Science, Physics, Mathematics, or a related field
Demonstrated ability to conduct independent, hypothesis-driven research
Strong grounding in experimental design, statistical validation, quantitative evaluation
Strong software engineering fundamentals in Python and backend frameworks like FastAPI, Flask, Django
Hands-on experience working with ML / AI models (LLMs, NLP, simulation, or related areas)
Comfortable working in ambiguity, where the right question is often unclear at the start

Bonus points for:

Familiarity with fine-tuning workflows, model optimisation and experiment tracking
Experience with multi-agent systems, simulations or agent-based modelling
Experience building workflows/agents on top of existing models
Experience with relational databases and vector search / embedding systems
Knowledge of cloud infrastructure, containerisation and deploying ML systems to production
Experience working in fast-moving environments with evolving requirements

About the Company

Wave Talent help tech-focused companies build end-to-end digital teams. We are specialists in recruiting Engineering, Product, and Design talent. We have three simple truths: Earn Honesty. Deliver Expertise. Pursue Connection. Curious to find out more? hello@wavetalent.co www.wavetalent.co Know more