About the role

About the role
This is a Senior/Lead AI Engineer role within a high-growth, product-led technology company building intelligent systems that operate in complex, real-world environments.

You’ll work at the intersection of AI, machine learning, data engineering, and distributed systems, designing and delivering production-grade capabilities that monitor large-scale operations, generate insights from real-time data, and improve customer outcomes. This is not a research or experimentation role - the focus is on building systems that are robust, observable, and genuinely used.

You’ll partner closely with senior technical leadership to ensure AI and data solutions deliver clear, measurable value.

What you’ll be doing

• Designing and deploying AI-driven systems in production to monitor, analyse, and optimise operational environments
• Building data pipelines and models that extract value from real-time and historical data
• Developing intelligent systems that provide diagnostics, insights, and personalised recommendations
• Integrating AI capabilities into existing platforms, services, and workflows
• Designing systems that are reliable, observable, and resilient, including fallback behaviours
• Applying pragmatic modelling approaches — prioritising clarity, performance, and maintainability
• Implementing monitoring, evaluation, and feedback loops to continuously improve model performance
• Collaborating with product and commercial teams to ensure delivered value is clear and measurable

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years’ experience in AI, machine learning, or data engineering roles
• Proven experience building and deploying production-grade AI or data-driven systems
• Strong skills across Python, data pipelines, and modern data infrastructure
• Experience working with real-time or streaming data environments
• Ability to take ambiguous problems and turn them into structured, deployable solutions
• Solid understanding of model evaluation, validation, and performance in production
• Strong communication skills — able to explain technical concepts clearly and pragmatically

Nice to have

• Experience with time-series data, anomaly detection, or operational analytics
• Familiarity with customer-facing or decision-support systems
• Experience with modern data platforms and streaming technologies
• Exposure to optimisation or decision-making frameworks

Why join

• Build real AI systems in production, not proof-of-concepts that sit on the shelf
• Work on complex, high-impact problems in a modern, data-rich environment
• Join a growing, high-performing team with strong technical leadership
• Genuine opportunity to shape how AI is applied across products and platforms
• Collaborative, fast-moving culture that values practical thinking and continuous learning

About the culture
This is a team that values clarity, ownership, and building things that actually work. Engineers are trusted to make decisions, challenge ideas, and focus on outcomes over hype. The environment is collaborative, curious, and grounded in delivering meaningful, real-world results.

How to apply
Apply with your CV or contact James Hurren at jamesh@potentia.co.nz for a confidential discussion.