Principal AI Engineer

About the role

Netcompany, a digitalisation consultancy serving EU institutions and public and private organisations, is hiring a Principal AI Engineer in Athens. This is a manager-level, highly client-facing leadership role combining technical leadership, people management and client engagement. You will lead the design, delivery and scaling of GenAI, LLM and machine learning solutions for enterprise clients, acting as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders and mentoring a team of AI/ML engineers.

Key responsibilities

• Serve as the primary AI and ML advisor to enterprise clients, turning business challenges into scalable, measurable AI solutions.
• Lead, mentor and grow a team of AI/ML engineers, fostering technical excellence and continuous learning.
• Drive end-to-end architecture and delivery of ML and GenAI pipelines, from prototyping to production deployment.
• Collaborate with MLOps, DevOps and data engineering teams on robust, scalable solutions.
• Manage stakeholder relationships, including executive communication, reporting and risk management.
• Lead client workshops, discovery sessions and technical presentations to define AI strategies.
• Oversee delivery quality against performance, scalability, security and governance standards.
• Contribute to practice development, including methodology, tooling, reusable assets and pre-sales activities.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in AI, Data Science, Machine Learning, Computer Science, Engineering, Operational Research or a related field (PhD is a plus).
• 8+ years of AI/ML engineering experience delivering enterprise-grade solutions from concept to production.
• Proven leadership or management experience, including mentoring and performance management.
• Strong client-facing experience, including workshops and presentations to C-level executives and board members.

Required skills

• Machine learning and GenAI, including LLMs (GPT, Claude, Gemini), RAG, prompt engineering and agentic AI.
• MLOps, model lifecycle management and production deployment.
• Cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform.
• Modern AI/ML frameworks and open-source tooling.
• Plus: consulting or professional services background, AI governance and LLM monitoring, advanced GenAI frameworks (LlamaIndex, LangGraph), AIOps, and pre-sales or business development experience.

What we offer

• Hybrid working model in a modern environment.
• Competitive compensation and benefits, health and life insurance, meal and commuting allowance.
• Well-being activities on site and unlimited access to Udemy for Business.
• A personalised development plan.