C&D Talent Advisory - Academy
Senior ML Engineer | London
C&D Talent Advisory - AcademyGermany5 days ago
Full-timeRemote FriendlyEngineering, Information Technology
Foundation Model Leadership | Applied AI Research & Systems

  • Location: London, UK (on-site preferred; remote with monthly visit possible)
  • Job Type: Full-time | Senior
  • Compensation: £100,000 – £200,000 + share options
  • Our Client: VC-backed AI/ML start-up


Work Authorization

  • Must have the right to work in the UK or be able to obtain it
  • On-site presence in London preferred
  • Remote candidates must commit to at least monthly London visits
  • Visa sponsorship not available


About The Opportunity

Our client is developing a novel foundation model to enable fully automated, unsupervised software delivery in embedded control systems. As a VC-backed, early-stage AI company based in West London, they are building the core ML stack from first principles.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on architecting, optimizing, and deploying large-scale foundation models in a high-urgency, high-impact environment.

What You'll Do

  • Lead research, development, and production deployment of the foundation model
  • Define long-term technical strategy for high-performance ML systems
  • Optimize models across diverse hardware environments
  • Architect scalable distributed training and inference pipelines
  • Build GPU-accelerated components, including custom CUDA kernels
  • Profile and optimize the full ML stack end-to-end
  • Create internal tooling, benchmarks, and evaluation harnesses
  • Work closely with founders to translate product goals into technical roadmaps


Tech Environment

  • Python and CUDA C/C++
  • PyTorch (preferred) or similar deep learning frameworks
  • Distributed training and large-scale inference systems
  • Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
  • Modern foundation model architectures (MoE, state-space models)


What We're Looking For

  • Proven experience designing and implementing large-scale foundation models
  • Strong hands-on performance optimization and debugging skills
  • Practical experience with distributed training and inference
  • Deep knowledge of modern deep learning frameworks
  • Experience operating ML systems in production environments
  • High urgency, ownership mindset, and comfort with ambiguity


Nice to Have

  • Custom CUDA kernel development
  • Internal ML tooling or benchmarking experience
  • Containerisation and orchestration exposure
  • Embedded or control systems background
  • Experience at top-tier AI/ML companies or research labs


Why This Role Stands Out

  • Ground-floor role shaping a novel foundation model
  • Direct collaboration with founders
  • High technical ownership and strategic influence
  • Streamlined interview process (2 stages)
  • Transparent, no-jargon engineering culture


If you've built and optimized foundation-scale models and want real technical ownership in an ambitious AI start-up, we'd love to meet you...

Key Skills

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