The RoleWe're hiring a Founding AI Engineer to build the systems that allow AI to operate safely, reliably, and repeatedly inside Grand.This is a high-impact individual contributor role focused on turning intelligence into production-grade capability. You'll work AI-first by default, but with an engineer's instinct for control, failure modes, and long-term system integrity.This is not a product feature role and not a research role. You won't own UX or model theory. You will own how AI runs in the system: orchestration, guardrails, observability, auditability, and lifecycle management.You'll sit close to the founders, product, data science, and regulatory teams, shaping how AI decisions are triggered, constrained, inspected, and acted upon in a regulated environment. This is a seat at the founders' table, building the nervous system of the company.What You'll DoDesign and build the runtime and orchestration layer for AI systems across the platformTurn probabilistic AI outputs into controlled, repeatable system behaviourDefine how AI decisions are triggered, gated, validated, and executedBuild guardrails, fallbacks, and confidence thresholds into AI flowsDesign human-in-the-loop and escalation paths where requiredOwn prompt lifecycle management, evaluation, and versioningManage context assembly, scoping, and data boundaries for AI tasksBuild systems for logging, tracing, replay, and auditabilityControl latency, cost, reliability, and degradation in productionPartner closely with AI data scientists to productionise models and signalsCollaborate with product engineers to integrate AI safely into workflowsEnsure AI systems are defensible, inspectable, and regulator-readyMust HaveStrong backend engineering fundamentalsProven experience shipping AI or LLM-based systems into productionExperience designing distributed systems with state, retries, and failure handlingComfort working with probabilistic systems in high-consequence environmentsExperience building guardrails, validation layers, or control flows around AIStrong understanding of observability, logging, and system diagnosticsExperience managing model or prompt lifecycles in real systemsAbility to reason clearly about failure modes and degradationClear communicator who can explain complex system behaviour plainlyHigh technical judgment and strong ownership instinctsNice to HaveExperience operating AI systems in regulated or high-stakes environmentsFamiliarity with agentic systems, task orchestration, or workflow enginesExperience with hybrid systems (rules + AI + humans)Exposure to payments, fintech, or risk-sensitive domainsBackground in early-stage or zero-to-one engineering teamsExperience designing systems that must be audited or replayedSalary and BenefitsExcellent Salary: Competitive and reflective of the responsibility of a founding roleEquity Options: Meaningful ownership in a long-term companyHybrid Work: At least 3 days in our London or Dublin officeExtended Remote Work on Request: Outcomes matter more than opticsBuilders, Not Tourists: Work with people who care deeply about getting this rightWho You AreYou're a systems engineer first, who happens to work with AI. You're less interested in demos and more interested in what happens when things go wrong.You think in flows, constraints, and failure paths. You're comfortable saying "this shouldn't be automated yet" and designing for gradual trust.You've seen what breaks when AI leaves the sandbox, and you build accordingly. You care about traceability, responsibility, and long-term credibility.You thrive in ambiguity, enjoy hard systems problems, and take pride in building infrastructure that other engineers trust.You're based in Dublin or in close commuting distance (or ready to be), and ready to help build something genuinely new.If this sounds like you, let's talk.