AI Data Engineer - (Trading Analytics)

AI Data Engineer | Contract | Initial 6 Months | Hybrid | £700-800 p/d | Inside IR35 We’re supporting a client looking to expand their AI and data capability within a front-office trading environment. This is a highly hands-on role for a senior engineer who can work directly with traders and analysts to build AI-driven analytics on top of large-scale market and fundamentals data. You’ll be operating in a fast-paced environment where speed of delivery, strong communication and technical depth are all key. The role would suit someone with a strong data engineering background who has also moved into applied AI and enjoys working close to the business. This role is inside IR35, initial 6 months, £700-800pd and 2-3 days per week onsite in Central London. Key Responsibilities • Develop and deliver AI-powered analytics tools to support trading decisions (e.g. forecasting, correlations, scenario analysis) • Build and optimise scalable data pipelines using Databricks and Spark across large, complex datasets • Work directly with traders and analysts to turn open-ended questions into actionable, data-driven solutions • Apply statistical and analytical techniques to market and time-series data to generate meaningful insights • Design and implement LLM-driven workflows, including prompt engineering, orchestration and integrations • Ensure solutions are production-ready, with appropriate testing, monitoring, and documentation • Continuously iterate with end-users to refine and improve outputs in a live trading environment Required Experience • Strong hands-on experience with Databricks and Spark (including PySpark and SQL) • Proven background in data engineering, including pipeline development, data modelling and performance optimisation • Solid grounding in statistics, econometrics or data science, particularly within time-series data • Experience building or deploying AI/LLM-based solutions in a production setting • Strong understanding of software engineering best practices (version control, testing, CI/CD) • Ability to work directly with business stakeholders and communicate technical outputs clearly • Experience working at pace, iterating quickly from prototype through to production Nice to Have • Exposure to commodity or financial trading environments • Understanding of market data, pricing, or supply and demand fundamentals • Familiarity with infrastructure tooling such as Terraform or MLflow • Experience with vector databases, feature stores or data governance frameworks • Knowledge of data security, lineage and compliance considerations Ways of Working • Hybrid setup with close collaboration alongside trading teams • Fast-paced, iterative delivery model with a strong focus on practical outcomes • Emphasis on building robust, scalable solutions that can transition from prototype to production • Strong engineering standards around testing, deployment, and reliability Please apply below directly if interested!