AI Engineer

AI Engineer (Agentic AI / Databricks) Outside IR35 Contract – Databricks Specialist

Contract length: 10 weeks initially, 3 day a week engagement with a strong likelihood of extension

Start date: ASAP – early October

Location: Manchester – Hybrid

About the Role

We're looking for an experienced AI Engineer to join a specialist Databricks delivery team on a high-profile agentic AI engagement. You'll sit alongside a Business Analyst, Solution Architect and Data Engineer, leading a well-established client through the deployment of a multi-agent AI solution built natively on Databricks.

This is a hands-on consulting role: refining an already-scoped solution design, building and pairing directly with the client's engineers, and coaching their team so they can confidently take the solution forward. There's a strong chance to extend into a second, machine-learning-focused phase of the engagement for the right candidate.

Key Responsibilities

• Refine and finalise the design of a multi-agent solution on Databricks
• Lead hands-on delivery – building, testing and deploying agentic AI workflows
• Pair-program and hand-hold the client's engineering team through implementation
• Instruct and guide client engineers, then review and feedback on their work
• Apply strong governance practices using Unity Catalog and AI Gateway
• Proven experience building AI agents on Databricks – multi-agent solutions strongly preferred
• Hands-on MLflow experience, including model registry
• Unity Catalog and AI Gateway (or equivalent governance tooling)
• Strong general Databricks knowledge – compute management, logging and monitoring
• Strong Python and PySpark
• Excellent consulting skills – communication, people leadership and technical advisory, with the confidence to lead a client's team through a technical journey
• Machine learning / MLOps experience – useful if the engagement extends into its ML-focused second phase

What Makes a Great Fit

• A genuine consulting mindset – confident bringing a client's team along with you, not just delivering in isolation
• Manchester-based or a comfortable commute – travel and expenses are covered for on-site days