Innovation Engineer

• Salary: £80,000 Per annum
• Function: Technology and Services
• Location: Rowan House, Swindon
• County: Wiltshire
• Ref: 13187

Innovation Engineer

£80,000 per annum plus £5,688 per annum car allowance, bonus and benefits.

12 month fixed term contract

Our reputation as the UK’s largest newspaper and magazine wholesaler speaks for itself. Every day, we serve more than 22,000 customers from 34 distribution centres across the country. Behind every nightly miracle is a team of dedicated people carrying out more roles than you realise – we’re the unseen force that delivers. So when we say we’re excited for what the future holds for our customers and colleagues, you can trust we’re as good as our word.

The iLAB is Smiths News' Innovation Lab, run from Enterprise Architecture. It builds and develops innovative solutions for the business, working in 90-day cycles. This exciting role is the Lab's builder. You will use AI coding agents and assistants as your primary build method, so that one engineer delivers at a pace that would conventionally need a small team. Speed with discipline is the job: every build exists to answer a question the business has asked, and ending an idea with clear evidence counts as a success.

What we can offer you

Not only do we offer free onsite parking, 4x salary life assurance and 5% match pension but you’ll also have access to:

• £5,688 per annum car allowance
• Company bonus
• Company funded Health Cash Plan – providing cash back for everyday healthcare costs such as dental, optical and physiotherapy
• 25 days holiday plus holiday buy scheme
• 24/7 E-Learning modules, Training and Development opportunities
• Sharesave Scheme, Cycle to work schemes, Health cash plan
• Private medical insurance
• Colleague Assistance Programme & Colleague referral scheme

About you

• Strong full-stack web development: a modern JavaScript or TypeScript framework, API design, and at least one backend language such as Node.js or Python.
• Demonstrable, current use of AI coding tools to deliver working software at speed. Candidates should expect to show real examples, not describe the concept
• Hands-on experience with large language model APIs, prompt design, retrieval-augmented generation, structured evaluation, and ideally fine-tuning.
• Cloud platform experience deploying, securing and costing small workloads independently.
• A track record of shipping fast. Prototypes, side projects, hackathons, start-up or agency delivery all count as evidence.
• Plain, confident communication. Able to demonstrate and explain technical results to non-technical colleagues.
• Degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience. Evidence of building matters more than certification.

Please note: you must have the right to work in the UK to be considered for this position.

A career with us is a career filled with people, pride, and passion. We rely on each other to get the job done, and we deliver what we say we will. Let’s see if we can rely on you, too. .

Meet our recruiter

Sian Griffiths

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