AI Platform & Infrastructure Lead

In a nutshell, we’re all about making the world of wine a better place. We fund and source directly from independent winemakers to bring customers better quality wine for a better price. No thirsty middlemen as far as the eye can see.

It’s a different way of doing things, sure. But it works. We’re one of the UK’s favourite wine clubs, shipping over 1 million (!) cases a year to curious wine lovers. And with an ambitious road ahead, we’ve got no plans on plugging the cork on growth.

Our global team (we have offices in the US and Australia, too) is entrepreneurial by nature, obsessive about customer experience and driven by performance. All things that make Naked a great place to grow both personally and professionally. And yes, we like wine. A lot.

It takes a village to be Naked. That’s why we’re always on the lookout for eager talent to join the club. And now, our Technology team is looking for an AI Platform & Infrastructure Lead to join the fun. As we scale our AI initiatives, we are moving from a fragmented landscape of tools to a unified, secure, and developer-friendly "Golden Path." You’ll be the hands-on architect designing the technical standards and infrastructure patterns that make compliant AI usage the default behaviour for the company.

So if you’re keen to help us take the guesswork out of enjoying great wine (that’s what we’re passionate about), there’s a Naked welcome pack with your name on it. Together, we’ll take Naked Wines to the next level – and share our not-so-well-kept secret with the world.

Location & Flexible Working - Hybrid: London or Norwich (one visit a month to either office)

Requirements

What you'll do

• Architect the "Golden Path": Design the end-to-end AI infrastructure that enables teams to adopt AI tooling safely and at speed, integrating seamlessly with our stack (AWS, GitLab, Jenkins, Looker, and more).
• Build Reference Implementations: Move beyond theory by implementing the first instances of key platform patterns - retrieval pipelines, agent observability harnesses, and model gateways - alongside our engineering teams.
• Governance-as-Code: Develop and maintain technical guardrails - such as automated data masking and policy-based access control - directly within our CI/CD pipelines.
• Define Standards: Act as the technical source of truth for AI service consumption, data privacy, and model deployment, ensuring all departmental tools align with our central infrastructure.
• Security & Resilience by Design: Partner with Security to architect defense-in-depth patterns against modern AI risks like prompt injection and data leakage.
• Platform Enablement: Produce the reference architectures and documentation that empower other teams to implement the Golden Path across their specific domains.
• Strategic Guidance: Act as a technical 'trusted advisor' to stakeholders and senior leadership, providing clarity and calm leadership within a landscape of rapid technological change.

What you'll bring

• Architectural Maturity: Proven experience designing and scaling AI/ML and GenAI infrastructure. You’re familiar with RAG, agentic systems, LLMOps, and vector retrieval.
• System-Level Thinking: You look beyond the immediate task to understand how platform decisions impact the entire engineering ecosystem and aren't afraid to challenge legacy standards.
• Security First: You treat security as a first-class engineering concern, with experience building systems that satisfy stringent data residency and service management requirements.
• Business Acumen: Expertise in evaluating potential AI use cases, understanding ROI, and assessing implementation trade-offs (including when to keep a 'human in the loop').
• Technical Communication: You can distill complex requirements into clear, evidence-based recommendations for both engineering and non-technical stakeholders.
• Continuous Curiosity: You proactively track the evolving AI landscape to ensure our platform remains state-of-the-art and competitive.

And finally you live by our Naked values:

• We are Naked Together - We believe that when people come together, great things get better. That is why we put people at the heart of what we do: our Angels, our Winemakers, our People and our Investors. What makes this work is trust, and we protect it diligently.
• We back independence - We believe great things happen when people are free to create and think for themselves. We pride ourselves on challenging the status quo and solving problems independently.
• We are bold - We choose courage over comfort and are not afraid to call things as they are. We dream big and take action to turn our ambition into reality - even in the face of uncertainty.
• We care about our craft - We have a passion for our craft and strive for excellence in everything we do. We hone our craft continuously and keep on finding ways to do things better.
• We choose what’s right - We do right to our people, our planet and our products, and believe everyone can make a difference. We accept the inevitable trade-offs that come with doing the right thing.

Recruitment Process - Interview & Task > Panel Interview

Benefits

As part of the Naked family, we want you to know we've got your back. Here are a few of the perks you'll enjoy when you join the team…

• A competitive salary of £70-£80k pa plus annual bonus opportunity
• Personal Healthcare

• 26 days holiday and bank holidays (you can buy or sell holiday too)
• A £300 annual personal development budget - we're passionate about supporting people to follow their dreams inside or outside of Naked
• £450 every year to treat yourself to some of our delicious wines...all in the name of research, of course
• We want to do our bit for the community and give everyone paid leave to volunteer
• We have wellbeing support and access to mindfulness resources 
• Enhanced parental leave
• We like to surprise and delight you with lovely thoughtful gifts including Naked Wine and lots more...

Equal Opportunities

At Naked Wines, we recognise the value of diversity and inclusivity in fostering a truly remarkable experience for all our winemakers and customers. Our commitment extends beyond wine to building a workforce that reflects the wide array of perspectives and experiences found across the UK. We believe that embracing diversity in our teams enables us to provide exceptional service and innovation.We are dedicated to ensuring all our employees are treated fairly and equitably at work, with a strong commitment to promoting equity in both physical and mental health for everyone. To achieve this, Naked Wines encourages applications from individuals of disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, disabled persons, LGBTQ+ community members, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, and those with lived experiences of discrimination.

Accessibility and Adjustments

Naked Wines is committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process. We strive to be as accommodating as possible to ensure all candidates can participate fully. If you have specific requirements or need adjustments at any stage of the application or interview process, please do not hesitate to get in touch. In your application, feel free to indicate your preferred pronouns (for example - she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc)to help us better address and respect your identity throughout the process.