Job description
AI Engineering Director
Permanent | Hybrid (Amsterdam) |
Riverflex is building a frontier AI engineering practice — the kind our clients wish existed as they navigate complex intelligent transformation programmes. You lead it. You own developing the architecture, the team, our products & accelerators, and the trajectory of AI engineering at Riverflex. This is not a management-only role: you architect and code alongside your team, ship systems to production for blue-chip clients, and develop the reusable accelerators that make our delivery best-in-class.
This role reports directly to the founders and carries a clear path to Director — Riverflex's most senior level — with a profit-share compensation model that rewards practice ownership. You co-create new service offerings as the AI market evolves, sit in the room with C-level clients, and partner with the founding team on commercial growth. The path is yours to build.
About Riverflex
Riverflex was founded in Amsterdam and London in 2018, eventually growing into a global team of consultants united by a mission to help courageous leaders drive transformative change. Today, we offer an integrated service through three service pillars: strategy and transformation consulting that Creates Change, talent services that Build Teams, and business-accelerating products that Augment Intelligence. For more information, visit www.riverflex.com.
Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Delivery
Architect and ship AI systems for complex client engagements — meaningful production work, not pilots that die in PowerPoint
Own system design decisions across LLM-based applications, agentic architectures, RAG pipelines, evaluation frameworks, and model routing
Serve as senior technical lead on client engagements
Drive technical quality, code review, and engineering standards across the AI practice
Offering Development and Products & Accelerators
Design and ship at least one core reusable Riverflex AI accelerator (e.g. agentic harness, eval framework, RAG pipeline template) within the first year
Co-develop new client service offerings in partnership with the strategy team as the AI landscape evolves
Allocate time to R&D, internal IP, and new offering development
Team Build & Scaling
Scale the AI engineering team within 12 months — hire, calibrate, and retain
Set the bar for engineering talent: own hiring loops, technical assessments, and onboarding
Develop engineers through coaching, pairing, and structured growth paths
Commercial & Client Engagement
Partner with founders in C-level client conversations — co-piloting in year one, with growing autonomy by month 12
Scope complex AI engagements, translating client problems into deliverable technical architectures
Contribute to practice growth through commercial credibility and client trust
Job Requirements
10+ years of engineering experience, with meaningful time leading technical teams (4–5+ years in technical leadership)
Deep capability in modern AI systems: LLMs, agentic architectures, RAG, evaluation, model routing
Proven ability to architect and ship production systems — not just prototype or advise
Hands-on with hiring, calibration, and developing engineers
Comfortable with ambiguity, allergic to bureaucracy
English fluent
The following are a plus:
Production GenAI track record (we are equally open to candidates who will build this track record at Riverflex)
Ex-startup CTO (Series A–C, AI-first product company), senior staff/principal engineer at a scale-up (e.g. Booking, Adyen, Picnic, Mollie), or frontier-lab IC (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepMind, Mistral, Cohere) ready to commercialise
Dutch language skills
Experience with consulting delivery or client-facing technical advisory
What We Offer
Clear progression with profit-share upside tied to practice performance
A competitive compensation package.
25 days off per year, plus we are closed for the week between Christmas and New Years so you can spend that time with your loved ones.
Flexible work from abroad options, for up to 6 weeks per year.
Pension scheme to help you plan for your future.
Personal Learning and Development budget, including full access to all Udemy courses.
Classpass membership, so you can nurture your mind and body regularly.
Access to the latest tech & tools, including laptop, home office budget, and professional software like ChatGPT pro, Sembly, SlideHub, Notion, and Riverflex’s own in-house software.
Equity share scheme, giving our long-term team members ownership of Riverflex.
Why This Role
You anchor AI engineering at Riverflex for the next 3–5 years. The mandate is real: scale a team, ship production AI for blue-chip clients, and build the IP that defines how Riverflex delivers. The founders are in the room with you, the clients are serious, and the autonomy is yours from day one. If you've hit a ceiling on ownership elsewhere, this is the role where you build the practice you've been waiting for.
Apply Now
Interested in this role? Submit your CV and a brief note on your relevant experience through the Riverflex website or reach out to our talent team directly.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and take pride in a diverse environment. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, medical condition, or disability. Even if you believe you do not tick all the aforementioned requirements for the role, we still encourage you to take the time to apply.
or
All done!
Your application has been successfully submitted!
You've already applied for this job
We appreciate your interest in this position. Unfortunately, you have already applied for this job.
