The AI@Kent team within the Student Life Directorate is seeking an AI Software Engineer to develop and implement practical AI-enabled tools for students, academic staff and professional-services teams.

Working under the direction of the Head of AI, and in collaboration with colleagues across the University, the postholder will contribute to the design, build and refinement of AI applications that address clearly defined user needs. A key example of this work is the development of AI chatbots and assistants that provide safe, accurate and University-approved responses to common student and staff queries.

As AI Software Engineer you can expect to be involved in:

• Developing, testing and maintaining AI-enabled applications that support learning, teaching, student experience and professional-services delivery.
• Building and supporting AI chatbots and assistants using approved large language model (LLM) APIs, ensuring outputs are accurate, accessible and aligned with University guidance and content.
• Working with academic and professional-services colleagues to understand requirements, contribute to solution design, and implement agreed functionality.
• Developing backend services, APIs or scripts that integrate AI tools with University systems and content repositories, following agreed integration patterns.

What will you bring to the role?

• A degree or equivalent professional experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science or a related technical field.
• Practical experience developing software applications using at least one modern backend language (e.g. Python, C#, or similar).
• Experience integrating large language models into applications using APIs, including prompt design, request/response handling and basic error management. 
• Experience contributing to user-facing tools or services, with awareness of usability and accessibility considerations.  webpage: Working at Kent

What we can offer in return:

As a member of our team, you can expect a friendly, open and collaborative working environment and support in your development and wellbeing. You'll enjoy a range of great staff benefits including:

• Hybrid working options allowing a flexible blend of office and home working (to be agreed in line with business needs) 
• 43 days' leave per year (personal leave, bank holidays and additional days allocated for the Christmas period, pro rata for part-time staff)
• Excellent pension scheme with generous employer contributions
• Corporate employee-funded healthcare plan, in partnership with Benenden Health

We are ambitious for our people, our communities and the region we serve – join us in making the world a better place. Visit our website for more on who we are: http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/

Please see the links below to view the full job description and to apply for this post. For further information regarding the application process, please contact peopleserviceshr@kent.ac.uk quoting reference number SL-033-26.

Closing Date: 09 Mar 2026

Section: Professional/Managerial

Salary: £39,906 to £44,746 per annum

The AI@Kent team within the Student Life Directorate is seeking a Lead AI Platform Engineer who will be responsible for the secure and effective operation of the University’s institutionally approved AI platform, and for designing, developing and deploying high-quality AI-powered applications that enhance education, research, and professional-services delivery.

The role holder will take technical ownership of platform configuration, permissions, monitoring, and safety guardrails. They will also build production-ready software solutions that integrate large language models, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, automation workflows, and agentic AI tools that enable AI systems to perform purposeful tasks across University systems and content.

Working closely with Information Technology Services (ITS), Planning, Insights and Improvement, academic schools, research teams and professional-services teams, the postholder will ensure that the University’s use of AI is secure, ethical, and aligned with institutional priorities.

As Lead AI Platform Engineer you can expect to be involved in:

• Managing the University’s institutionally approved AI platform, including system configuration, user permissions, safety guardrails, usage monitoring, credit management, and incident escalation, ensuring compliance with University policies and data-protection requirements.
• Designing, developing, testing and deploying AI-powered applications and integrations that support academic, research and operational use cases, using modern engineering practices and ensuring that solutions are secure, scalable, and maintainable.
• Build and maintain retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, including document ingestion pipelines, embedding generation, vector database configuration, and retrieval logic to provide accurate, grounded AI responses using University-approved content.
• Contribute to institutional AI governance, working with Information Governance, Legal and IT Security to ensure systems meet regulatory, ethical and security standards.

What will you bring to the role?

• A degree or equivalent professional experience in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related technical field
• Strong programming skills in Python, with experience developing APIs, backend services, or automation workflow 
• Demonstrable experience building AI-enabled applications that integrate large language models (LLMs) using APIs (for example via enterprise or commercial LLM providers), including prompt management and context injection: 
• Experience developing, deploying, and maintaining applications in a cloud environment, ideally Microsoft Azure

For more information about what you can look forward to if you join us, visit our dedicated webpage: Working at Kent

We are ambitious for our people, our communities and the region we serve – join us in making the world a better place. Visit our website for more on who we are: http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/

Please see the links below to view the full job description and to apply for this post. For further information regarding the application process, please contact peopleserviceshr@kent.ac.uk quoting reference number SL-034-26.

Closing Date: 09 Mar 2026

Section: Professional/Managerial

Salary: £48,822 to £54,893 per annum