Forward Deployed AI Engineer Senior Manager - AI & Data

AI & Data - Forward Deployed AI Engineer, Senior Manager

General Information

Location: Dublin

Available for Work Visa Sponsorship: NO

Business Area: UKI AI & Data

Contract Type:Full-Time – Permanent 

The Team and the opportunity

As part of our AI & Data team, this role is pivotal in enabling our clients to derive significant value from AI. Through collaboration and domain expertise, our team embeds innovative AI & Data solutions into existing business areas, transforming data into strategic assets. We are looking for a Foward Deployed AI Engineer who is passionate about leveraging AI & data to solve complex problems and drive business outcomes. 

As a Forward Deployed AI Engineer at EY, you will be a client-embedded technical leader responsible for translating AI ambition into trusted, enterprise-grade solutions. You will work closely with EY Partners, engagement teams, and senior client stakeholders to design, build, and deploy AI systems that operate effectively within complex, regulated, and large-scale environments. 

This role blends deep hands‑on engineering, consulting judgment, and client‑facing delivery ownership. You will carry solutions from concept through production and enable clients to sustainably operate and evolve their AI capabilities.

Your key responsibilities

• Turn ambiguous business problems into concrete AI solutions by partnering with clients to understand workflows, constraints, success metrics, and incentives.

• Translate business challenges into well-scoped AI use cases (e.g., prediction, automation, retrieval, agent workflows). 

• Define MVP scope, data requirements, and evaluation criteria jointly with stakeholders.

• Build fast prototypes using - LLMs, RAG pipelines, fine-tuning, agents, traditional ML models where appropriate.

• Design and implement AI architectures, including data ingestion, feature pipelines, embeddings, vector stores, model selection, tuning, and evaluation.  Prompt design, guardrails, and system instructions. 

• Integrate AI components with existing client systems (APIs, data warehouses, SaaS platforms). Optimize for latency, cost, reliability, and scalability. 

• Deploy solutions into client infrastructure (cloud, hybrid, on-prem), navigating real-world constraints such as security, compliance, data residency, legacy systems. 

• Set up monitoring for model performance and drift, prompt failures, hallucinations, and regressions. 

• Provide technical training and knowledge transfer to client teams. 

• Capture reusable patterns, architectures, and accelerators. 

• Contribute to internal playbooks and reference implementations.

• Share lessons learned across engagements.

• Support pre-sales with technical credibility and demos. 

• Stay current on fast-moving AI tooling and model capabilities. 

Skills and attributes for success

To qualify for the role, you must have

• 7+ years of AI/ML engineering experience with strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and system design with Python in production environments. 

• Deep applied AI/ML mastery: NLP/transformers, generative models (GANs/VAEs), reinforcement learning, classical ML and statistical modelling. 

• Advanced LLM/RAG engineering: prompt pipelines, embeddings, vector stores (FAISS/Milvus/Pinecone), hybrid retrieval, grounding, hallucination mitigation and evaluation frameworks. 

• LLMOps/MLOps: automated testing, drift monitoring, safety/guardrails, CI/CD for ML, telemetry, lineage and governance.   

• 7+ years of experience with cloud platforms (Azure-preferred, GCP, or AWS) and modern data infrastructure.

• Experience with containerization and CI/CD pipelines. 

• Proven ability to work with clients in a technical consulting, solutions engineering, or product engineering role. 

• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to navigate ambiguous requirements and rapidly iterate toward solutions. 

• Familiarity with enterprise security, compliance, and governance requirements (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA). 
• Demonstrated ability to lead multi‑disciplinary teams (engineering, data science, architecture, product, design) through complex delivery cycles. 

Ideally, you will also have

• Experience building and deploying AI agents or autonomous systems in production.

• Experience in using modern Python AI stack (e.g. LangChain, LangGraph, Llama Index, FastAPI). 

• Previous work in a forward deployed, field engineering, or technical account management role. 

• Domain expertise in verticals like finance, healthcare, government, or manufacturing. 

What we look for

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Background in machine learning, with hands-on experience training or fine-tuning models. 

• Relevant experience in consulting or industry with significant management experience. 

What working at EY offers

We offer a competitive remuneration package. Our comprehensive benefits package includes support for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs: covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions. Plus, we offer: 

• Support and coaching from some of the most engaging colleagues around. 

• Opportunities to develop new skills and progress your career. 

• The freedom and flexibility to handle your role in a way that’s right for you. 

All our employees are given a benefits package which they can tailor to suit their individual preferences. Our range of benefits include: 

• Pension
• Discounted health insurance
• Web Doctor – Free unlimited online GP consultations for you and your family
• The purchase of additional annual leave
• Hybrid Working
• Free Gym membership
• Travel Pass
• Maternity & Paternity leave
• Bike to work Scheme
• Recognition Awards
• Cash incentives for referrals
• Work Mobile
• Tech MBA paid by EY
• Wellness rooms available in some offices

EY is committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We strive to achieve the right balance for our people, enabling us to deliver excellent client service whilst allowing you to build your career without sacrificing your personal priorities. While our client-facing professionals can be required to travel regularly, and at times be based at client sites, our flexible working arrangements can help you to achieve a lifestyle balance. 

Career Progression

• When you join EY, you will be supported to ensure that you are enhancing your skills from day one. 

• Continuous learning, where you can develop the mindset and skills to navigate whatever comes next. 

• As you grow and develop here, you’ll discover opportunities to help customise your career journey, so that it’s as unique as you are - success is defined by you, we will provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way. 

• Transformative leadership, we will give you the insights, coaching and confidence to be the leader the world needs. 
• Diverse and inclusive culture, you will be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs. 
• We have embraced Hybrid working at EY adding greater flexibility and autonomy to the roles of our employees. 

About EY

As a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, we’re using the finance products, expertise and systems we’ve developed to build a better working world. That starts with a culture that believes in giving you the training, opportunities and creative freedom to make things better. Whenever you join, however long you stay, the exceptional EY experience lasts a lifetime.

Inclusion & Diversity

We hold a collective commitment to foster an environment where all differences are valued and respected, practices are equitable and everyone experiences a sense of belonging: Inclusion, diversity, and equity are part of who we are at EY. We believe that the highest-performing teams maximize the power of different perspectives and backgrounds. These teams are both diverse and inclusive and are willing to invite and learn from other perspectives. Our ability to include various viewpoints into our mindsets, behaviours and operations is fundamental to driving innovation, building strong relationships, and delivering the best solutions for our clients. 

We recognise the strength that comes from having a diverse workforce and building a culture where we support all our people to achieve their potential. You’ll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs.

As an equal opportunities’ employer, we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. Reasonable accommodations are offered at every stage of our recruitment process. 

Are you ready to shape your future with confidence? Apply today.

To help create the best experience during the recruitment process, please describe any disability-related adjustments or accommodations you may need.

If you can confidently demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible.

IMPORTANT: Where Agency assistance is required, our Talent Team will engage directly with suppliers. CVs / Profiles should not be shared directly with Hiring Managers. Unsolicited CVs / Profiles supplied to EY by Recruitment Agencies will not be accepted for this role.