Principal AI Scientist – Learning & Assessment AI

Location: UK Remote (Candidates must be UK based)
Salary: £110,000 – £125,000
Employment Type: Permanent

The Opportunity

We’re working with an innovative technology-led organisation that is transforming how AI is used within learning, assessment, and workforce skills development.

They are seeking a Principal AI Scientist to lead the scientific design, validation, and evolution of next-generation AI-powered assessment and learning solutions embedded directly into the flow of work.

This is a senior individual contributor role suited to someone with deep expertise across AI/ML, psychometrics, measurement science, and production-scale intelligent systems. The successful candidate will operate as a scientific authority within the organisation, shaping methodology, influencing product direction, and ensuring AI-driven solutions are fair, explainable, scalable, and scientifically rigorous.

The role offers the opportunity to work at the intersection of modern AI systems, applied research, and enterprise-scale product delivery.

The Role

As Principal AI Scientist, you will take ownership of the scientific and methodological direction of AI-enabled learning and assessment products.

You will work closely with product leadership, engineering teams, data scientists, and domain experts to translate advanced research into production-ready systems that deliver measurable user and business outcomes.

This position requires someone comfortable operating in highly complex environments with significant technical, ethical, and commercial considerations.

Key Responsibilities

Scientific Leadership & Product Ownership

• Lead the scientific strategy for AI-enabled assessment, learning, and skills products
• Define robust methodologies balancing innovation, scalability, fairness, validity, and explainability
• Act as the senior scientific authority for assessment and measurement decisions
• Establish scientific standards, reusable frameworks, and evaluation methodologies
• Lead validation studies to ensure reliability, consistency, fairness, and performance stability
• Define and monitor scientific KPIs including drift detection, bias indicators, and model effectiveness
• Identify and mitigate scientific and measurement risks associated with AI systems at scale

AI, Machine Learning & Modern AI Systems

• Apply AI and machine learning techniques, including LLMs and foundation models, to learning and assessment use cases
• Support development of AI-powered capabilities such as:
  • Skills inference
  • Adaptive assessment
  • Automated content generation
  • AI-driven feedback and reasoning systems
• Contribute to the evaluation and governance of agentic AI workflows
• Partner with engineering teams to ensure scientific integrity is maintained throughout implementation and deployment
• Support lifecycle monitoring and continuous improvement of production AI systems

Research, Innovation & Strategic Influence

• Translate research findings into scalable, commercially viable product capabilities
• Produce thought leadership content including whitepapers and scientific insights
• Influence product and AI strategy through scientific expertise and evidence-based recommendations
• Support internal and external discussions around responsible AI and ethical AI implementation
• Engage with enterprise stakeholders and senior leadership on scientific and AI-related topics

Required Experience

• Advanced degree (MSc or PhD preferred) in:
  • Psychometrics
  • Educational Measurement
  • Statistics
  • Machine Learning
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Data Science
  • Or equivalent commercial experience
• Proven experience building or leading AI-enabled assessment or measurement systems
• Deep expertise in validation methodologies, statistical modelling, and measurement theory
• Strong applied experience with machine learning and AI systems in production environments
• Practical understanding of modern AI architectures including Large Language Models (LLMs)
• Experience collaborating closely with engineering and product teams
• Ability to influence technical and strategic decisions through expertise rather than direct authority
• Experience operating in complex, high-ambiguity environments with significant business or ethical risk considerations

Desirable Experience

• Experience applying LLMs within learning, workforce skills, or assessment products
• Exposure to adaptive testing, continuous assessment, or automated item/content generation
• Experience evaluating or governing AI agentic workflows
• Background within learning technology, education technology, workforce development, or skills ecosystems
• Experience working on enterprise-scale or long-lived AI platforms

What They’re Looking For

• A scientifically rigorous thinker with strong commercial awareness
• Someone passionate about responsible and explainable AI
• Comfortable balancing research innovation with practical delivery
• Strong communicator able to work across technical and non-technical audiences
• A collaborative leader who enjoys solving complex real-world problems

Package

• £110,000 – £125,000 salary
• Fully remote role within the UK
• High-impact position within a cutting-edge AI environment
• Opportunity to influence next-generation AI products at scale

Please note: Applicants must be based in the UK. Sponsorship is not available for this position.