Lead Ai Engineer (AI/ML/R&D)

Lead Ai Engineer 

Location : Hybrid working 3 days a week in the Manchester Office

Who we are 

Bally’s Interactive is the digital arm of one of the world’s leading entertainment providers, with tens of millions of players across the globe and an unmatched ecosystem of products spanning across the sports betting, iGaming, free-to-play, and daily fantasy spectrum. 

Our brands and sites include market movers and shakers like Bally Bet, Vera&John, Virgin Games, Jackpotjoy and many more. We make our mark by embracing the diversity of our global team, challenging ourselves, and striving to make a difference for our players. 

Well, what about the team?

As Lead AI Engineer, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of AI across our products. Leading a newly established AI Engineering function, you'll bridge cutting-edge research with production engineering, ensuring innovative AI capabilities become scalable, reliable features used by millions of players.

You'll lead a multidisciplinary team responsible for developing and delivering AI-powered experiences across personalisation, recommendations, intelligent search, AI agents and content discovery. Working closely with product, engineering and data teams, you'll define technical direction, establish engineering best practices and help build a high-performing team capable of delivering AI solutions at scale.

This is a hands on leadership role where you'll combine technical expertise with people leadership. You'll mentor and develop engineers, influence architecture and technical strategy, and remain close to the code, leading by example on the most complex technical challenges.

So, what will you be doing?

• Significant commercial software engineering experience, including experience leading technical teams or engineering functions.
• Strong expertise in TypeScript and Python, with a proven track record of delivering AI, machine learning or data-driven solutions into production, including recommendation engines, intelligent search, ranking systems or LLM-powered applications.
• Extensive experience building and operating cloud-native applications on AWS, with strong knowledge of CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability and modern engineering practices.
• Experience delivering high-performance, real-time systems that operate reliably at scale with demanding latency requirements.
• Demonstrated experience leading the successful transition of AI solutions from research or proof of concept into robust, production-ready services.
• Experience establishing technical standards, driving engineering excellence and mentoring or developing engineers within high-performing teams.

And what will you need?

Experience: 

• Significant commercial software engineering experience, including experience leading technical teams or engineering functions.
• Strong expertise in TypeScript and Python, with a proven track record of delivering AI, machine learning or data-driven solutions into production, including recommendation engines, intelligent search, ranking systems or LLM-powered applications.
• Extensive experience building and operating cloud-native applications on AWS, with strong knowledge of CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability and modern engineering practices.
• Experience delivering high-performance, real-time systems that operate reliably at scale with demanding latency requirements.
• Demonstrated experience leading the successful transition of AI solutions from research or proof of concept into robust, production-ready services.
• Experience establishing technical standards, driving engineering excellence and mentoring or developing engineers within high-performing teams.

Skills & Behaviours: 

• A technical leader who enjoys building, mentoring and developing engineering teams while creating an environment where innovation can thrive.
• Able to balance experimentation with engineering discipline, making sound technical decisions that deliver long-term value.
• Confident leading technical discussions, influencing architecture and making complex decisions across multiple stakeholders.
• Passionate about building scalable, maintainable and observable AI systems using modern engineering best practices.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across engineering, product, data and leadership teams.
• Comfortable remaining hands-on with technology while providing strategic technical leadership and direction.

This is what you'll get:

(different benefits packages are tailored to fit each location, but here’s a taste of what may be on offer) 

• Annual leave 
• Pension plan 
• Health insurance 
• Company share scheme 
• Volunteering days 
• Home office allowance 
• Wellness or Gym allowance 

DNA / Values  

At Bally’s Interactive, we are driven by a set of core values that we like to call our DNA. We strive to embody our DNA and keep them at the heart of everything we do! 

We are Always Ready to embrace change, adapt, and do what it takes to delight our customers. We believe that You Make the Difference, which is what gives our players the best experience and keeps them coming back. We are All One Team, looking out for each other, respecting diversity while connecting through a common purpose. Our teams are Learning Every Day by showing constant curiosity and the drive to learn from successes, mistakes, new experiences, and the people around us. At Bally’s we Love to Lead by thinking differently, seeking innovation, and always looking for ways to raise our game.  

Equal Opportunities  

At Bally’s Interactive, we are committed to promoting equal opportunities in employment and working conditions. 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are important to us, and we encourage a culture where everyone can be themselves at work. We believe passionately that employing a diverse workforce is central to our success, this is our superpower.  

We do not discriminate against employees or job applicants on the basis of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, age, sex or sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, political opinion or disability.