--- title: 'Principal Machine Learning Engineer at Faculty' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/principal-machine-learning-engineer-faculty-london-r9ktd4nf1t1y' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-16' --- # Principal Machine Learning Engineer at Faculty - **Company:** [Faculty](https://feeny.ai/companies/faculty) - **Location:** London, United Kingdom - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-06-29 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-16 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/faculty/bdbba013-af29-4028-addc-6f3d87ad657a/application **Skills:** Python, Cloud Solution Providers, Containerisation, Orchestration, MLOps, ML Systems Design > Serve as the definitive technical authority on ML engineering, setting architectural standards and owning the delivery of complex, high-stakes AI systems. This role involves influencing engineering strategy, coaching senior talent, and acting as a trusted partner to executive clients and leadership. ## Job description Why Faculty? We established Faculty in 2014 because we thought that AI would be the most important technology of our time. Since then, we’ve worked with over 350 global customers to transform their performance through human-centric AI. You can read about our real-world impact [here](https://faculty.ai/impact). We don’t chase hype cycles. We innovate, build and deploy responsible AI which moves the needle - and we know a thing or two about doing it well. We bring an unparalleled depth of technical, product and delivery expertise to our clients who span government, finance, retail, energy, life sciences and defence. Our business, and reputation, is growing fast and we’re always on the lookout for individuals who share our intellectual curiosity and desire to build a positive legacy through technology. AI is an epoch-defining technology, join a company where you’ll be empowered to envision its most powerful applications, and to make them happen. ## About the role As a Principal Machine Learning Engineer, you'll serve as the definitive technical authority on ML engineering across the organisation, setting the standard for how we design, build, and scale AI systems. You will own the architectural vision for our most complex and high-stakes programmes, influence engineering strategy at an organisational level, and act as a trusted partner to senior leadership and executive clients. This role goes beyond leading projects, you are a force multiplier who shapes the engineering culture, elevates the capability of those around you, and ensures our technical foundations are built to last. What you'll be doing: - Defining and owning the organisation-wide technical vision for ML engineering, establishing architectural standards and engineering practices that scale across teams and clients. - Overseeing the end-to-end delivery of flagship, business-critical ML programmes, spanning multiple workstreams, engineering teams, and client organisations. - Driving the strategic adoption of new technologies, platforms, and ways of working, influencing how the entire engineering craft evolves. - Cultivating senior engineering talent, coaching leads and managers, building capability pipelines, and embedding a culture of technical rigour and excellence. - Acting as the principal technical voice in C-suite and executive client engagements, shaping AI strategy and securing long-term strategic partnerships. - Leading on the most significant sales and pre-sales opportunities, providing architectural authority that differentiates our proposition and wins high-value engagements. - Partnering with Data Science, Commercial, and Infrastructure leadership to align ML engineering strategy with broader business goals and growth ambitions. Who we're looking for: - You are a recognised ML engineering authority, able to go exceptionally deep across multiple domains and provide definitive technical judgement on the hardest problems. - You have mastery of Python and a proven track record of designing and operationalising production-grade ML systems at scale, across multiple frameworks and paradigms. - You are an expert across multiple major Cloud Solution Providers and have set the architectural direction for complex, full-stack AI platforms spanning multiple organisations. - You have deep expertise in containerisation, orchestration, and MLOps at scale, and have established the standards others follow. - You have a proven track record of developing senior engineering talent, coaching leads and managers, building capability, and shaping high-performance engineering cultures. - You have a visible external profile, through publications, conference contributions, open-source leadership, or industry influence, that reflects your standing in the field. - You operate naturally at the executive level, translating complex ML engineering decisions into commercial outcomes and proactively shaping the strategic direction of client engagements. Our Interview Process - Talent Team Screen (30 minutes) - Introduction to the role (45 minutes) - Pair Programming Interview (90 minutes) - System Design Interview (90 minutes) - Commercial & Leadership Interview (60 minutes) Our Recruitment Ethos We aim to grow the best team - not the most similar one. We know that diversity of individuals fosters diversity of thought, and that strengthens our principle of seeking truth. And we know from experience that diverse teams deliver better work, relevant to the world in which we live. We’re united by a deep intellectual curiosity and desire to use our abilities for measurable positive impact. We strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, religions and sexual orientations. If you don’t feel you meet all the requirements, but are excited by the role and know you bring some key strengths, please don't hesitate in applying as you might be right for this role, or other roles. We are open to conversations about part-time hours. A note on AI: we're happy for you to use it for research and interview prep, but please don't use it to generate answers during live interviews. We also use an AI note-taker (Metaview) in interviews so interviewers can stay present (which you can opt out of just let us know,) and every application is reviewed by a human, never decided by AI. ## About Faculty ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Faculty is a British AI company that builds and deploys safe, human-led AI systems to help organizations across government and industry make better decisions and improve performance. - **Entity Type**: Private (Growth Stage) - **Headquarters**: London, United Kingdom - **Founded**: 2014 - **Founders**: Dr. Marc Warner (CEO), Dr. Angie Ma, and Andrew Brookes (CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, AI Safety - **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise, Government (including UK Ministry of Defence, NHS, and leading global brands) - **Mission or purpose statement**: "Putting AI to work for the world" — making AI useful by helping clients access cutting-edge AI to improve business performance. ## Products & Services - **Frontier (AI Operating System)**: Faculty’s proprietary AI platform that serves as the backbone for building, deploying, and managing AI solutions at scale. It enables clients to operationalize AI across their organizations. - **AI Consulting & Solutions**: Custom AI projects for clients, spanning decision intelligence, predictive analytics, and process automation. Notable work includes the NHS Covid Early Warning System and mission-critical projects for the UK Ministry of Defence. - **Fellowship Programme**: A prestigious, highly selective program that retrains academics (PhD-level) into commercial data scientists. It has over 425 alumni and is considered one of the best in Europe. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (private company) - **Key Metric**: Revenue has grown by more than 20x under the tenure of Chief Commercial Officer John Gibson. Specific revenue figures are not publicly available. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Not publicly disclosed in detail, but the company has worked with hundreds of organizations globally, including the UK Government, NHS, and major brands. The CCO, John Gibson, is a member of the Innovate UK Council. - **Growth Signals**: - 663 total employees (as per Built In profile) - Revenue growth of 20x+ under current commercial leadership - Over 425 alumni from its Fellowship programme - Active hiring across multiple senior roles (ML Engineer, Research Scientist, Full Stack Engineer, Data Scientist) - Strong government and defense sector relationships ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep Government & Defense Ties**: Proven track record with the UK Ministry of Defence and NHS, creating a high barrier to entry for competitors. - **AI Safety Focus**: Explicit commitment to safe, human-led AI — a key differentiator as AI regulation and ethics become paramount. - **Proprietary Platform (Frontier)**: A mature, in-house AI operating system that provides a technical moat and enables rapid deployment. - **Elite Talent Pipeline**: The Fellowship programme creates a unique, high-quality talent pool of PhD-level data scientists. - **Decade of Focus**: The company has been exclusively focused on AI since 2014, avoiding hype cycles and building deep expertise. ## Strategic Focus - **Scaling AI Impact**: Moving from bespoke consulting to platform-driven solutions via Frontier. - **AI Safety Leadership**: Investing heavily in AI safety research and roles (e.g., Principal Research Scientist - AI Safety). - **Government & Enterprise Expansion**: Deepening relationships with public sector clients while expanding into new commercial verticals. - **Talent Development**: Continuing to grow the Fellowship programme and invest in internal training and development. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-Driven Work**: Employees work on "the world’s most important problems" — from pandemic response to national security. - **Autonomy & Trust**: The company emphasizes operating with "an unusual amount of trust and autonomy." - **Culture of Depth & Kindness**: Values include "Be Humble & Kind," "Seek Truth," and "Maximise Impact." The culture is described as intellectually rigorous but collaborative. - **Hybrid Work Model**: Based in London with a hybrid working policy. Some roles are listed as remote (UK-based). - **Strong Benefits Package**: Includes equity, performance bonuses, generous parental leave, health/dental/vision insurance, free snacks and drinks, employee discounts, and job training/conferences. - **Diversity & Inclusion**: Offers diversity-based Employee Resource Groups and publishes a Gender Pay Gap report. - **Elite Peer Group**: Described as a place where you work with "conspicuously smart and kind" people — a "professional challenge of a lifetime." ## Sources 1. [faculty.ai](https://faculty.ai/company) 2. [faculty.ai](https://faculty.ai/current-vacancies) 3. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/faculty) 4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/faculty-0) ## Other roles at Faculty - [Senior Manager (Education)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-education-faculty-london-gb4ed24x98bg) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-manager-faculty-london-qh962h0pxz3w) — London, United Kingdom - [Delivery Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/delivery-manager-faculty-london-rspmxpermyg5) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-scientist-faculty-london-dwkm1n6bjk14) — London, United Kingdom - [Customer Director (Aerospace)](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-director-aerospace-faculty-london-vv33apyrm70h) — London, United Kingdom - [Senior Associate](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-associate-faculty-london-wz2s5p2eeyhr) — London, United Kingdom - [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-faculty-london-p3rvg17db9sb) — London, United Kingdom - [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-faculty-london-aqgpjyz7kn1z) — London, United Kingdom - [Machine Learning Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-faculty-london-79d036wwxsx4) — London, United Kingdom - [Delivery Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/delivery-manager-faculty-united-kingdom-342pkphy11fp) — United Kingdom