Machine Learning Engineer

You will work with software engineering and product design to understand requirements, contribute to agentic systems for large-scale analysis of the geopolitical landscape, and help train and evaluate domain-specific models for the problems our customers face. Alongside domain experts, you will help translate research into practical solutions for analysts operating at the frontier of their field.

In this role, you will own well-defined components end-to-end and collaborate on broader technical decisions, working alongside senior engineers, with support on the more ambiguous or open-ended parts of a problem. You will take projects from prototype through to reliable production deployment.

We look for people who enjoy challenging problems, keep learning and build systems that scale. We value low ego, genuine ownership and a passion for applying AI to high-stakes intelligence challenges.

• Designing systems that balance research velocity with product and production constraints
• Help shape technical decisions on model selection, training approaches, evaluation and deployment for well-defined components
• Build and ship production-ready components, combining research rigour with pragmatic engineering
• Take projects from early exploration through to reliable deployment

• Apply high standards for architecture, code quality, evaluation and research practices

• You like using machine learning to solve challenging problems in a complex domain
• You enjoy working closely with product, design and the analysts who use what you build, translating their feedback into technical decisions
• You’re energised by hands-on work with model serving (small models and LLMs), agent orchestration and retrieval systems
• You care about engineering fundamentals: writing code that’s clean and maintainable, not just code that works

• You are comfortable with a fast-paced environment and clear ownership

• This role positions you at the frontier of applied AI for high-stakes decision-making, giving you the chance to help shape production agentic systems that influence real geopolitical and organisational outcomes.
• Depending on your interests, this role can open paths into specialised domain AI, technical leadership and lasting impact in the decision-intelligence space.

Due to the nature of our work and the clients we support, applicants must be eligible to obtain UK security clearance. We are currently only able to consider applicants who are nationals of a NATO member state, Australia, or New Zealand.

• 2+ years of professional software engineering experience, with experience owning well-defined features or components end-to-end within a larger system
• Technical excellence (contributing to production systems, research that was used, or hands-on ownership of well-defined components in an early-stage role)
• Some hands-on experience with model serving (small models and LLMs), agent orchestration or retrieval systems
• Developing rigour in evaluation and benchmarking, with support from senior engineers
• Strong engineering fundamentals: ability to write clean, maintainable code
• Comfort with a fast-paced environment and clear ownership of well-defined work
• Exposure to modern coding agents and interest in effective workflows

Desirable

• Early-stage start-up experience
• Building agentic tools and harnesses
• Working on domain-specific modelling problems
• Clear writing, systematic thinking and strong communication

• Technical Assessment - 45 minutes
• System Design Assessment - 45 minutes

• Founder interview - 30 Minutes

• Competitive salary based on skills and experience.
• A generous benefits package, including Private Medical Health Insurance and enhanced pension contributions.
• Enhanced parental leave and a workplace nursery scheme.
• £500/year education budget with more expensive items (like conferences) covered with manager approval.
• 33 days of leave across the year inclusive of bank holidays.
• Flexible working, hybrid: minimum 2 days per week in our central London office.

ExTrac AI is committed to a fair and transparent hiring process. We confirm that this advertisement is for an active, existing open role within our organisation. Please be advised that we may use artificial intelligence-driven tools to assist our recruitment team in screening, assessing, and selecting candidates for this position but all hiring decisions will be made by a member of our team.