Full Stack Software Engineer (AI) - Central Government - £700-£800/day Inside IR35 - SC Cleared
A central government organisation is seeking an experienced Full Stack Software Engineer to join a newly established digital capability team delivering AI powered products and services that will be used across government departments.
This is a unique opportunity to become the primary software engineering specialist within a multidisciplinary team focused on workforce transformation, digital capability and applied AI. Working closely with product, policy and capability stakeholders, you will help design, build and deploy practical AI solutions from concept through to production.
The successful candidate will contribute to several greenfield initiatives, including AI-powered job description matching solutions, workforce intelligence platforms leveraging large-scale Civil Service datasets, and the development of a Digital Skills Passport to enable skills portability across government. This role requires a hands-on engineer who is equally comfortable building Front End and Back End applications, integrating Large Language Models (LLMs), working directly with users, and taking ownership of the full product life cycle.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design, develop and deploy full-stack applications using modern technologies and cloud platforms
- Build and enhance AI-powered products using LLMs and natural language processing techniques
- Develop Front End, Back End, API, database and data pipeline components Integrate and operationalise AI/LLM services within production environments
- Take solutions from discovery and prototyping through testing, deployment and iteration
- Work directly with users and stakeholders to understand business problems and translate them into technical solutions
- Ensure solutions are accessible, secure, scalable and operationally effective
- Support deployment, monitoring and continuous improvement of services
- Communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Operate as the lead engineering resource within a small multidisciplinary team
Ideal Candidate
- Strong software engineering background with experience delivering production-grade applications
- Experience building across the full stack, including Front End and Back End development
- Strong experience with Python and TypeScript Experience working with APIs, databases, data pipelines and cloud-native applications
- Practical experience integrating and using AI systems, including LLM workflows
- Experience developing user-facing products and services
- Strong understanding of software engineering best practices and modern delivery approaches
- Comfortable working in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
- Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills
- Ability to take ideas from concept through to implementation
Desirable Experience:
- Previous Central Government experience, GDS, DSIT, CDDO or wider
- Experience with Wagtail CMS
- Experience with Langfuse or similar LLM observability tools
- AWS, Terraform, GitHub and CI/CD pipelines Agentic AI, RAG or advanced GenAI solutions
- Product thinking and UX design experience
- Startup or entrepreneurial background
- Active or transferable SC Clearance
- Demonstrable experience building and deploying AI-enabled solutions
- Strong preference for candidates with Public Sector experience
- Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams
- Must be a hands-on engineer with current coding experience
TL;DR
Job Title: Full Stack Software Engineer (AI)
Contract Length: 6 months
Location: London (Hybrid)
Rate: £700-£800 per day
IR35 Status: Inside IR35
Clearance: Active or Transferable SC
Start: ASAP