Lead AI Engineer

At Staycity Group, we bring together two leading aparthotel brands - Staycity Aparthotels and Wilde Aparthotels - united by a shared commitment to modern, flexible hospitality. Across our properties and support teams, our goal is simple: to deliver exceptional experiences for our guests and create an environment where our people can do their best work. Whether you're joining our operations or head office teams, you'll be part of a fast-growing European hospitality group built on our values of curiosity, drive, collaboration, kindness, and respect. We're a diverse and inclusive team that encourages you to bring your unique self to work - because we believe great hospitality starts with people who feel valued, supported, and inspired to grow. Role: Staycity Aparthotels is seeking a hands-on AI engineering leader to design, develop, and deploy production-grade AI and automation solutions across the organization. This role blends deep technical execution (machine learning, data engineering, and agentic AI system design) with strategic leadership, enabling the business to leverage AI in revenue optimization, marketing, forecasting, and productivity automation. The successful candidate will spend 40-50% of their time coding and prototyping, while guiding a small multidisciplinary team responsible for bringing AI initiatives from concept to deployment. Benefits Paid family leave (>1 year of service) Flexible working patterns Generous holiday allowance Matched pension contributions Health and Dental Insurance Bonus scheme that rewards high performers;- based on our core values and tied to individual property goals Discounted rates for overnight stays for you, your family and friends Refer and earn scheme if you successfully refer a friend to work with us Cycle to work scheme- to support a healthy lifestyle and our planet Education Support to help you foster new skills Volunteer days: 2 paid volunteer days per year Support for you and your family when you need it with our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) We would love you to have... Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, or related technical field. 5+ years hands-on experience developing and deploying AI/ML models in production environments. Proven experience in Machine learning (forecasting, pricing, marketing analytics, attribution modeling). Proven experience in Large language models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, etc.). Proven experience in Python, FastAPI, and cloud deployment. Proven experience in Building agentic AI architectures and automation frameworks (LangChain, CrewAI, MCP servers, etc.). Familiarity with hospitality or retail data environments (e.g., PMS, RMS, CRM, POS). Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; comfort with experimentation and iteration. Excellent communication and mentoring skills. What you can do for us... Hands-on Solution Development (40-50%): Design and build ML models for demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, and marketing attribution. Develop GenAI-augmented tools using APIs, MCP servers, and conversational interfaces for automation across finance, marketing, and customer service. Prototype and deploy agentic AI architectures (e.g., GPT orchestration, multi-step automation workflows). Implement data pipelines and model-serving environments using Python, FastAPI, and cloud-native tools (Azure/OpenAI/Vertex) Leadership & Delivery: Lead a cross-functional team of AI and automation specialists (data scientist, automation engineer, AI engineer, PM). Define coding standards, review code, and ensure scalability and maintainability of AI solutions. Conduct buy vs build assessments and vendor evaluations for AI platforms. AI Strategy Execution: Translate Staycity's AI roadmap into measurable deliverables. Partner with revenue management, marketing, and operations to embed predictive and generative AI into daily workflows. Drive the evolution of Staycity's D3X conversational platform into a unified automation layer across the enterprise. Knowledge Sharing: Champion AI best practices and mentor team members. Support AI literacy across departments through demos and internal training. If you thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment where ambiguity is met with enthusiasm and determination, and if you lead with kindness, clarity, and curiosity, we'd love to hear from you. Start your Staycity Group journey - apply now