AI engineer in live translation

Hike is representing a client building technology that helps people have natural conversations across languages. They’re a small, well funded team tackling a difficult problem: making live translation work in everyday conversations. This is an opportunity to join early and help build the business behind the technology. You'll be part of our senior leadership committee - sitting alongside the CEO, Head of Engineering, Head of Product, Head of GTM and Chief of Staff. You own the AI direction, the model architecture, and the long-term technical bets made on how this product thinks, learns and scales. This is a founding-level role in everything but title.

• You own the AI direction, the model architecture, and the long-term technical bets made on how this product thinks, learns and scales.

• You have deep hands-on experience building and shipping AI models - not just fine-tuning, but understanding what's under the hood
• You've worked on problems that are genuinely hard - real-time processing, speech, translation, or low-latency inference would be a strong signal
• You're the kind of engineer who came up through places like DeepMind, top research labs, or early-stage AI teams where the bar was exceptionally high
• You're curious, sharp and energised by unsolved problems rather than comfortable ones
• You're someone people trust with decisions that are hard to reverse - you think carefully, communicate clearly, and don't cut corners on what matters
• You can work independently at a senior level while staying closely aligned with a small, fast-moving team

• a competitive salary, benchmarked to the role and your experience. We're happy to discuss specifics early on.
• meaningful equity as an early employee.
• workplace pension with employer contributions.
• 🏆 Recognition and rewards for great work.
• 🗓️ All the boring stuff everywhere else provides - 25 days off, pension, the lot.
• 🏙️ Amazing London offices: two spaces, one floor, 360° views across London. One side is built for collaboration and energy (small talk encouraged). The other is quiet, calm - a low-distraction focus space, always there when you need it.
• 🍱 A fully stocked fridge, a proper lounge, and a team that genuinely likes spending time together. Food is taken seriously here.
• 🎛️ You shape your own environment. Lighting, a desk away from the noise, headphones, a setup that works for you. Just ask.
• ⏱️ Flexible hours around a small set of shared core hours, plus focus time we actually protect, so you can work when you think best.
• 🚀 Ownership and autonomy. If you want to deploy a solution, you don't need five meetings. You just do it.
• 🧭 A clear first-month plan and someone you can ask anything, so you're never left guessing what's expected.
• 🤝 A team that takes the mission seriously, but not itself - we love socials, passion, and building something we believe in.
• ✨ Benefits are still being shaped - tell us what would make a real difference to your quality of life, and we'll consider it. We mean that.