Agentic AI Engineer, Darlington

About the job

Job summary

If you're interested in making a difference to people's lives, the Treasury can offer you an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK. Working at the heart of government, we collaborate across government to promote responsible public spending and drive strong and sustainable economic growth.

Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a cross-government hub bringing people together to tackle key national issues while working closer to the communities we serve.

Job description

This role will play a critical part in shaping how HM Treasury designs, builds and governsagentic AI systems. You will lead the technical back‑end development of agents used across the organisation, ensuring they are reliable, secure, well‑governed and aligned with departmental standards. The post holder will combine strong data engineering expertise with a good understanding of AI systems, security considerations, and the confidenceto work with a wide range of stakeholders to support safe and effective deployment.

We arenotlooking for you to have all the required skills already - however,we expect you to have a relevant background, skills and demonstrate the willingness and ability to learnas you go.

Key accountabilities include:

1. Design and build the technical back‑end for agentic AI systems, including data pipelines, orchestration layers and integrations, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure and maintainable.
2. Establish and implement governance and technical controls for agentic AI, covering areas such as logging, monitoring, auditability, access control, and safe interaction with data and systems.
3. Develop and maintain reusable agent frameworks and services, enabling teams across HM Treasury to deploy specialist agents efficiently and consistently.
4. Work closely with security, data protection and architecture colleaguesto ensure agentic AI solutions comply with organisational policies and wider government standards.
5. Collaborate with policy, analytical and operational teamsto understand business needs and translate them into robust technical solutions.
6. Provide expert technical advice and guidanceon agentic AI and supporting data infrastructure to colleagues across the department.
7. Promote good engineering practice, including clear documentation, code quality, testing, and knowledge sharing within the Data Hub and beyond.
8. Support capability building across the organisation, helping teams understand how to safely adopt and use agent-based AI solutions.

Candidate Drop-In Session

The hiring manager will be running a candidate drop-in session to give you greater insight about the role and HM Treasury and ask any questions you might have. If you would like to join us, use the link below to join the call at the right time.

Microsoft Teams meeting

26th May Tuesday 4.30-5.30pm

2nd June Tuesday 12-1pm.

Join: ID: 313 416 780 474 488

Passcode: ko9Zx6PT

If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date, please contact Molly Adamat at

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Person specification

Application Stage

Application Form

Applications should consist of a CV including your employment history, and a 1000-word personal statement setting out how you meet the shortlisting criteria below. Your CV and employment history won't be scored. It's used to give context to your application and support discussions at interview.

The panel will review applications and invite those that best demonstrate evidence of the shortlisting criteria for interview. Please keep this in mind when writing your application.

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

1. Proven experience designing and building robust back‑end systems, such as data pipelines, services or orchestration layers, that are scalable, secure and maintainable.
2. Demonstrable experience applying technical governance and controlsto complex systems, including areas such as logging, monitoring, auditability, access management and safe interaction with data.
3. Strong ability to translate organisational or user needs into effective technical solutions, working collaboratively with colleagues from non‑technical backgrounds such as policy, analytical or operational teams.
4. Ability to provide credible technical leadership and advice, including explaining complex concepts clearly, promoting good engineering practice, and supporting others to adopt solutions safely and confidently.

Interview Stage

If you are successful at the application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed against the following criteria:

Technical skills: AI governance and engineering

Behaviours:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together

Interview Task / Presentation

Prior to your interview, we will contact you about a task / presentation that the panel would like you to deliver as part of the assessment. Further details will be communicated to you nearer the time.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• AI governance and engineering

Benefits

Alongside your salary of£57,670, HM Treasury contributes£16,706 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Generous Annual Leave - 25 days (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus public holidays and the King's birthday.
• Outstanding Pension Scheme - Defined Benefit pension with employer contributions of 28.97%
• Parental Leave Packages - Including 6 months'occupational pay for maternity/adoption, shared parental leave options.
• Flexible&Hybrid Working - Options include part-time, job-share, compressed hours, flexitime, and hybrid working (where business needs allow).
• Advance Schemes&Discounts - Rental deposit, cycle-to-work, SmartTech, season ticket loans, and access to HM Treasury's benefits portal for a wide range of discount codes.

You can review HM Treasury's full offer here.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Candidate GuidancePlease review the candidate guidance for an overview of the Success Profiles and STAR approach, along with top tips for applications and interviews.

Recruitment Timeline

• Closing date: 4th June 2026 before 23:55
• Shortlisting: From 5th May 2026
• Interviews: w/c 15th June 2026

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline.

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile.

Reserve Lists

You will be placed on a reserve list if your application is successful, but we cannot offer you a role immediately. Where more than one location has been advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to provide your location preference on your application form. Please note that a place on the reserve list does not guarantee an offer.

If you are offered a role in your first preferred location and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe, you will be removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances.

Those on the reserve list may also be approached for similar roles at a lower grade. If you are offered a role at a lower grade and choose to decline, you can remain on the reserve list.