Technical Application Specialist (Conversational AI)

We're seeking a Technical Application Specialist to join our Conversational Experience & Analytics Lab, focusing on advancing our Conversational AI capabilities. In this role, you'll maintain and enhance virtual assistant systems to ensure they remain resilient, compliant, and scalable. You'll collaborate closely with engineering, product, and data teams to optimise conversational flows, fulfilment logic, and backend integrations, while helping shape the strategic roadmap for conversational AI.

As a Technical Application Specialist, you'll enhance, maintain, and evolve our virtual assistant and conversational AI capabilities. You'll ensure these systems remain reliable, compliant, resilient, and scalable supporting the Group's ambition to deliver intelligent, secure, and seamless conversational experiences for our customers.

You'll work closely with engineering, product, and data teams to refine conversational flows, strengthen fulfilment logic, improve backend integrations, and contribute to the strategic direction of conversational AI across the organisation.

What you'll do

• Maintain, support and optimise existing virtual assistants to ensure performance, stability, usability and compliance.
• Design, develop and refine new conversational flows - including deterministic, rules-based logic and agentic AI-driven interactions - to deliver intuitive, natural and user-centred experiences.
• Work with engineering and product teams to strengthen fulfilment logic and backend service integrations.
• Analyse performance data, conversational transcripts and user feedback to identify improvements and innovation opportunities.
• Contribute to the Conversational AI strategic roadmap, aligning delivery to wider Group initiatives.
• Ensure operational resilience, regulatory compliance and platform stability across conversational systems.
• Promote best practices, continuous improvement and user-centred design across all conversational journeys., Our ambition is to be the leading UK business for diversity, equity and inclusion supporting our customers, colleagues and communities and we're committed to creating an environment in which everyone can thrive, learn and develop.

• Hands-on experience with Conversational AI platforms (e.g., IBM Watson Assistant, Google Dialogflow, Microsoft Bot Framework).
• Understanding of NLP concepts and conversational design principles.
• Ability to design and maintain both deterministic, rules-based conversational flows and agentic, LLM-powered interactions.
• Backend development experience using JavaScript or python.
• Ability to work effectively in agile, cross-functional teams.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret performance metrics, user feedback and transcript insights to drive improvements.

It would be great if you also had

• Experience with cloud platforms (GCP, Azure, AWS).
• Knowledge of containerisation and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes,).
• Understanding of microservices architectures and API gateway patterns.
• Familiarity with monitoring, observability or analytics tools used for conversational products.
• Experience working with CI/CD pipelines or automated testing for conversational AI., Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to .

We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer Initiative.

We offer reasonable workplace adjustments for colleagues with disabilities, including flexibility in office attendance, location and working patterns. And, as a Disability Confident Leader, we guarantee interviews for a fair and proportionate number of applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role with a disability, long-term health or neurodivergent condition through the Disability Confident Scheme.

We provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process to reduce or remove barriers. Just let us know what you need.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies