Python Team Lead - AI & Automation

Our client is an international provider of intellectual property services and technology solutions, helping businesses protect and manage innovations through patent translation, international filing, patent research, and renewal services.

The project focuses on replacing complex, labour-intensive backend business processes with Python-based automation and LLM-powered solutions.

You will join as the first engineer and Team Lead of a growing contractor team, establishing the technical foundations and helping shape how the team works and delivers. You will collaborate closely with an AI & Automation Product Manager with experience at Meta, turning business challenges into practical solutions.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring strong Python expertise, excellent communication skills, and the confidence to take ownership of problems from discovery through production.

• →Lead the technical delivery of automation initiatives, taking responsibility for solution quality and delivery outcomes.
• →Work closely with the Product Manager and business stakeholders to understand existing workflows, clarify requirements, and define priorities.
• →Translate complex business problems into actionable technical plans and clearly scoped tasks.
• →Design and develop Python services, automated workflows, and integrations with existing systems and APIs.
• →Apply LLM capabilities where they provide measurable value, with appropriate validation and human review.
• →Establish engineering standards, development practices, and a collaborative team culture.
• →Guide and mentor engineers, delegate responsibilities, and provide constructive feedback and code reviews as the team grows.
• →Proactively identify risks, resolve blockers, and communicate progress and trade-offs clearly.
• →Lead technical discussions, handle disagreements constructively, and help stakeholders reach informed decisions.
• →Ensure solutions include appropriate testing, monitoring, error handling, and production support.

• Strong commercial experience building and maintaining production systems with Python.
• Proven experience leading an engineering team while remaining actively involved in technical design and development.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including active listening, constructive feedback, and effective conflict resolution.
• Strong ownership: the ability to independently drive problems from initial investigation to a working production solution.
• Experience collaborating directly with Product Managers and business stakeholders, translating business goals into technical delivery.
• Ability to organise team workloads, delegate effectively, support engineers, and maintain accountability for commitments.
• Experience delivering backend automation, system integrations, or solutions that replace manual business processes.
• Practical experience integrating LLMs into applications or automated workflows.
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals, including APIs, databases, data processing, and reliable error handling.
• Experience with automated testing, Git, and production deployment practices.
• Ability to work effectively with evolving requirements, make pragmatic decisions, and explain technical trade-offs.
• Strong spoken and written English, sufficient to lead discussions, clarify complex requirements, and confidently challenge assumptions.

• Experience building a new engineering team or establishing delivery processes from scratch.
• Experience interviewing and onboarding engineers.
• Experience with document processing, information extraction, or document-heavy workflows.
• Experience evaluating LLM outputs for accuracy, reliability, latency, and cost.
• Experience with workflow orchestration, background jobs, and asynchronous processing.