Lead AI Engineer

## About the Role You will be the lead technical person on the Able platform. This is a hands-on delivery role with full ownership of building and shipping the technology. We are rebuilding Able as an enterprise-grade platform. That means the entire product: the matching engine, the AI agents, onboarding flows for freelancers and businesses and enterprise clients, payments, the user experience, credential verification, career coaching, portable skills passports, training materials, and support for full-time workers alongside freelancers. You'll lead the technical delivery of all of it. You'll work directly with the founder/CEO, who brings Fortune 100 transformation experience from BlackRock and Deloitte and deep domain expertise in workforce systems, AI strategy, and product direction. This is a genuine partnership between technical delivery and business vision. ## What You'll Build ### Enterprise Platform Rebuilding Able to enterprise-grade standards: SOC 2 compliance, ISO 27001 certification, and architecture designed to scale across UK, USA, and European markets. The current stack includes Next.js 15 / React 19, PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM, multiple Gemini AI agents, Firebase/Firestore, Twilio 2FA, and vector database for semantic search. ### Matching & AI Agents Evolving the core matching engine and suite of AI agents that power the platform — onboarding, matching, suggestions, gig creation, incident detection, and support. Improving the intelligence, accuracy, and scalability of the entire system. ### Credential Verification & Skills Infrastructure ML document forensics for credential verification, autonomous agents navigating fragmented verification pathways across regulatory bodies and international qualifications, conversational AI career coaching integrated with labour market data, and a portable skills passport built on W3C Verifiable Credentials 2.0. Healthcare is the pilot sector because the verification landscape is the most complex — eight regulatory bodies, qualifications from 146+ countries, hundreds of training providers. Human-in-the-loop oversight governs every edge case. ### Payments & Compliance Open Banking API integration and flexible payment infrastructure for enterprise clients. Right to Work verification via Passport Reader API and government share code API. The compliance architecture required for regulated sectors and international expansion. ## What We're Looking For ### Essential - A professional. Someone who conducts themselves with integrity, communicates clearly, and takes pride in their craft and their commitments - Meticulous, fluent English language skills — written and verbal - Currently building with AI and agentic systems — this is what you do right now - Demonstrable experience delivering AI/ML products to production: shipped products that real users rely on - Strong proficiency with modern AI tooling including Claude, LLM integration, and autonomous agent architectures - Full-stack capability across a modern stack: Next.js/React, PostgreSQL, cloud infrastructure, W3C Verifiable Credentials, Open Banking/payment integrations - Self-managing and agile/sprint-disciplined: you plan your own work, set realistic timelines, and deliver against them - Startup experience: you understand the pace, the ambiguity, and the need to ship with limited resources - Genuine commitment to ethical AI and algorithmic fairness ### Highly Desirable - Experience in work tech, marketplace platforms, or HR technology - Familiarity with credentialing systems, skills verification, or digital identity — W3C Verifiable Credentials, blockchain-based credentialing, Open Badges - Interest in the future of work: how AI changes employment, the skills economy, portable credentials, skills-based hiring - Experience with ML document analysis, fraud detection, or forensic verification - Experience building SOC 2 compliant or ISO 27001 certified systems - Knowledge of UK/EU regulatory landscape: EU AI Act, UK Employment Rights Bill, GDPR implications for AI in employment - Experience pitching and securing funding; a network of potential investors ## Ethical AI at Able Able exists because the current system fails workers. AI should make employment fairer. That belief shapes every technical decision: - Pseudonymised matching: algorithms never access names, photos, addresses, or demographic data - Published algorithm weights with external audit capability and full transparency - Human-in-the-loop governance: every disputed decision is resolved by a person - Skills-based feedback instead of star ratings, because research shows 5-star systems create 9% earnings gaps for non-white workers - Zero worker fees and same-day pay - Worker-owned portable credentials - Compliance by design with the EU AI Act and UK Employment Rights Bill ## Compensation & Structure - Salary Competitive, based on experience - Equity Available for candidates who demonstrate they can expand the vision and deliver