AI Software Engineer KTP Associate - 24 months Fixed Term (ABCE26062)

Birmingham City University is looking to appoint a high calibre graduate as an AI Software Engineer (KTP Associate) to deliver an exciting 24-month Knowledge Transfer Partnership with BCU’s Department of Computer Science within the School of Architecture, Built Environment, Computing and Engineering (ABCE) and PBL Care Limited. 

Based primarily at PBL Care in Birmingham, you will work with leading BCU academics and PBL’s operational team to develop and embed an AI-enabled platform and can transform how social-care services are planned, coordinated and monitored.

This Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) is co-funded by a grant from Innovate UK and PBL Care Limited. It is therefore essential you understand the fundamentals of the KTP collaboration between a UK business and a University works to deliver benefits for each (the company, the university, and the graduate) For more information please go to www.ktp.org.uk

The project will develop SMARTPBL, an operational-intelligence platform that integrates with PBL’s existing systems to improve workforce planning, care continuity, regulatory compliance and staff satisfaction. Is three core innovations are an intelligent geospatial carer-matching engine, a workforce retention and attrition-risk predictive model, and a domain-adapted NLP/LLM pipeline for converting care notes into structured and auditable intelligence. 

This is an excellent opportunity for a software/AI professional who wants to take ownership of a substantial real-world innovation project, combining applied AI, data engineering, software development, cybersecurity, user-centred design and organisational change in a regulated care environment.

Personal Training & Development Budget: 

The AI Software Engineer KTP Associate will have access to a wider range of benefits including a personal development budget of £4,000 to upskill during the project, alongside the wider KTP Associate training programme.

Location and Reporting:

The successful candidate will be employed by Birmingham City University and seconded to work full-time onsite at PBL Care Limited, at Benson House, 98-104 Lombard Street, Birmingham, B12 0QR. The Associate will deliver the 24-month KTP project in partnership with Birmingham City University and PBL Care Limited.

The Associate will be supervised and mentored by BCU’s Knowledge Base Lead and Academic Supervisors and by PBL’s Company Supervisor.

PBL Care Limited:

PBL Care Limited is a CQC-regulated social-care provider delivering adult domiciliary care, children’s homecare, NHS/ICB-commissioned services and supported-living provision across the West Midlands. PBL Care is seeking to strengthen its digital and analytical capability so it can scale safely, improve workforce stability, strengthen regulatory performance and deliver consistently high-quality care. For more information, please visit: www.pblcare.com.

The successful candidate will have full access to Birmingham City University’s resources such as offices, labs, and library to complete the KTP project (a project workplan written with KPIs and outcome deliverables has been written)

The role requires close collaboration with senior management, care coordinators, carers, technical staff and BCU academics, with a strong emphasis on knowledge transfer and embedding sustainable in-house capability.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Lead requirements elicitation, feasibility analysis and technical planning for SMARTPBLDesign the secure, modular platform architecture, data layer, APIs, dashboards and user interfacesDevelop the geospatial intelligent matching and dynamic replanning capabilityDevelop ML models for workforce retention and attrition-risk predictionDevelop and validate a domain-adapted NLP/LLM pipeline for care notes and risk/quality intelligenceImplement cybersecurity, access control, secure communications and GDPR-aligned data-protection measuresBuild and integrate the web and mobile solution with PBL's existing systems and cloud/data servicesPlan and conduct unit, integration, security and user-acceptance testing and support production deploymentTrain and mentor PBL staff, produce technical/user/helpdesk documentation, and embed sustainable internal capabilitySupport project reporting, impact evaluation, publications, dissemination and commercial exploitation planning

Skills and Experience:

You should hold at least a 2:1 degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Software Engineering or a closely related discipline. A relevant Master's degree is advantageous.

Essential:

Strong software-development skills and experience building data-driven systemsApplied machine-learning and data-analytics capability, including predictive modelling and/or optimisationKnowledge or experience of NLP/LLMs and unstructured-text processingExperience with databases, APIs and systems integrationExperience of cloud-hosted platforms or application architecturesUnderstanding of cybersecurity, access control, secure communications and data-protection principlesWeb and/or mobile application development experienceExcellent communication, stakeholder-engagement, problem-solving and project-delivery skillsAbility to work independently, manage change, take ownership of deliverables and operate effectively in a regulated environment

Desirable:

Approximately two years' relevant software-development/applied-AI experienceExperience integrating or adapting open-source LLMs and practical NLP solutionsExperience of GIS/routing/scheduling optimisation or workforce analyticsExperience of Azure, AWS or Google CloudExperience in social care, healthcare, digital health or another regulated/sensitive-data sectorKnowledge of explainable AI, human-in-the-loop approaches, fairness/bias monitoring and responsible AIAcademic acumen to contribute to technical reports, publications, conference outputs and training materials

Personal Skills:

Enthusiastic, self-motivated and able to take a proactive role in delivering the proposal's work plan successfullyPractical interpersonal skills to establish good working relationships with colleagues, stakeholders, and industrial partnersExcellent communication skills to express ideas adequately and articulate complicated matters between the academics and the company project team members either orally or in writingExcellent analytical, problem-solving, and computational skills, along with being adept at applying knowledge to commercial projects, driving value and making an impact where possibleStrong project management skills

The successful candidate will be required to undergo an Enhanced DBS check with barred list checks for both children and adults in accordance with the safeguarding requirements of PBL Care.

For further information, please contact Dr Faisal Saeed [email protected] or Prof Abdel-Rahman Tawil [email protected] 

Interviews will take place on Wednesday 10th December 2026 

Closing Date: 22 Nov 2026

Department: Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)

Salary: £38,000 to £42,000