Lead AI Research Engineer

Arondite is a defence technology company building the foundational software and AI to power the autonomous age. Our aim is to revolutionise the way organisations collaborate with sensors, robots and autonomous systems and use the data they generate. We are driven by our determination to help defend our collective democratic values and by our strong belief that an elite group of engineers can make a big difference. We are ambitious, well-funded and building for the long-term.

You will join Arondite at a pivotal moment in the company’s journey. Our company is being built by exceptional engineers - people who find high-impact and technically challenging work engaging and exciting, and who consistently deliver outsized impact. You will collaborate with other brilliant minds to solve some of the world’s hardest and most important problems.

You will have ownership and autonomy from Day One. There is no corporate ladder at Arondite. From your first day, you will directly influence the design, functionality, and direction of Arondite’s product offering. We hire the best people and give them extremely high levels of autonomy; the sky is the limit for an individual with the right ambition.

If you are motivated by our mission and if you want to be part of a growing team of outstanding people, then we want to hear from you.

Arondite is looking for an experienced lead AI research engineer to provide direction to Arondite’s growing AI capability. You should have previous experience developing AI-based solutions in a fast-paced commercial environment, as well as in building and managing a team of high-quality AI engineers. You will also be expected to personally contribute to the implementation of AI solutions.

These solutions will likely include AI/ML models that are integrated into our core software product, as well as those deployed on edge devices including drones and ground robots. The role will also encompass addressing the wider practicalities and challenges in implementing AI-based systems, including obtaining training data, addressing ethical concerns and explaining model behaviours.

As a leader within the AI team at Arondite, you will shape how we exploit the AI revolution, both as part of products and to accelerate our internal processes.

You should have the following:

• Previous experience in managing other AI engineers and building engineering teams.
• MSc in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics or a related engineering field
• The ability to architect and write maintainable code in Python, Rust, C++ or Java
• At least 5 years of relevant experience researching and applying modern ML in areas such as scene understanding, multi-modal sensing, control and path planning, live language models and vision-language understanding
• Strong written and verbal communication skills to communicate your ideas effectively and present them to relevant stakeholders and users
• A passion for identifying and implementing pragmatic solutions to hard problems using AI and conventional algorithms

Ideally, you would also have:

• PhD in computer vision, machine learning, robotics, or a related field
• Authored publications in top-tier journals and conferences (e.g. CVPR, NeurIPS, ICLR, ICCV, ICRA, IROS, TPAMI)
• Experience working with MLOps infrastructure or deploying AI models to production, including the associated monitoring, testing and quality assurance (QA)
• An understanding of different sensor modalities, their trade-offs, and relevant methods for processing their outputs to drive performance in challenging scenarios
• Created and optimised state of the art AI models for resource-constrained hardware
• Experience with synthetic data generation or simulation, or collection and management of large real-world datasets

Note: We want Arondite to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. We don't expect everyone to have experience across each of these areas. Please apply even if you only partially fulfil this list.

Right to Work

We require that all candidates have an existing Right to Work in the UK at the time of application.

Security clearance

We believe in working closely with defence customers. As a result, this role will require the individual to hold a clearance or be willing to undergo UK security vetting to Security Check (SC) or above. This normally requires having continuous residency in the UK for at least 5 years.

Office vs Hybrid working

We are focused on building a positive, collaborative engineering-driven culture. We therefore believe in making the office a friendly, comfortable and fun place to be, and we try to work from the office where possible. Of course, there are times when it makes sense for you to work from home and that's OK. You may also need to travel to visit customers, depending on your role. But in general you should only apply to join Arondite if you're excited to come into the office and work in person by default.

Application process

Generally, our interview process is comprised of the following stages:

1. CV submission with initial questions
2. Introductory Teams call (30 mins)
3. In-person technical interview (1-2 hours)
4. Final interview with one of Arondite’s Founders (30 mins)

• Highly competitive base salary
• Generous equity in EMI share options in a well-funded and growing startup
• 7% employer pension contribution
• Free breakfast and lunch every day; free pizza and beers weekly
• Private health and dental insurance
• Cycle to work scheme
• Relocation support
• Access to any resources, equipment and training that you need to do your job in a world-class way
• The opportunity to work with and learn from exceptional colleagues with excellent academic experience and deep industry knowledge