AI Technical Lead

Salary: £60,000 - 100,000 per year

Requirements:

• Hands-on experience with large language models, retrieval systems, and agent frameworks
• Exposure to insurance or another regulated industry
• Cloud-native AI architecture experience
• Experience with enterprise AI platform governance
• Track record writing architecture or security design documentation
• Familiarity with AI evaluation and quality assurance approaches
• Ability to assess AI vendors and tooling rigorously and independently
• Experience overseeing third-party AI delivery
• Strong communication skills, equally comfortable with engineers and senior leaders
• Previous work in an architecture review or governance context
• Intellectually curious, low-ego, and comfortable moving fast in ambiguous conditions
• Experience in a small, high-output team

Responsibilities:

• Own the technical governance process for AI tools and platforms across the Group
• Lead Architecture Review Board submissions
• Produce architecture and security design documentation
• Work alongside Enterprise Architecture as the AI functions technical representative
• Lead the technical evaluation of inbound AI vendors and tools
• Build a repeatable assessment framework for AI vendor and tooling decisions
• Ensure tooling decisions are grounded in architecture fit, security, data governance, and commercial sense
• Provide technical oversight across AI initiatives running inside Howden and with external delivery partners
• Ensure engineering work is delivered to the right standard and that Howden retains ownership of the output
• Set and maintain technical standards for how AI is built across the business
• Support colleagues and divisional AI leads who are building or deploying AI
• Translate technical constraints into practical guidance
• Provide technical grounding to the Head of AI
• Flag risks, pressure-test proposals, and act as a thought partner

Technologies:

• AI
• Cloud
• Support
• Security
• CTO

More:

We are Howden, a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart, spanning 24,000 employees across more than 56 countries. Our culture is a major reason people stay with us, and we value collaboration, ambition, and a no-limits mindset. This role sits within our small Group AI Function in London on a permanent, full-time basis. We work directly with senior stakeholders across the Group, moving between strategy and execution, and the position offers genuine influence over how our AI capability develops. We also support reasonable adjustments, including flexible hours or hybrid working where possible.

last updated 34 week of 2026