KTP Associate – AI Software Engineering

The KTP Associate role will work in partnership with Innovate UK and the relevant School/Academic Specialism at UWS. You will be working closely with academic supervisors and JW Grant stakeholders, the KTP Associate will play a central role in designing, developing, and deploying the AI capabilities to support JW Grant’s long-term growth and sustainability.

The associate will apply full-stack AI engineering, including large language models, agentic AI, and emerging Model Context Protocol (MCP) approaches, to integrate data and workflows prioritising sales and service, and stock and supply chain management. They will deliver secure, compliant, and user-focused solutions that provide tangible efficiency gains. A key part of the role will be engaging and supporting staff through change – building trust in AI through clear communication, training, and demonstrable value – while balancing academic rigour with commercial pragmatism to ensure successful project delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Data curation, database management and pipeline development for Large Language Models and Agentic AI systems
• Development of AI solutions integrated across multiple real-world systems and data sources
• Technical and non-technical report writing, presentations, whitepapers and case study development
• Software development, testing and deployment of AI models for monitoring and optimisation of various JW Grant Ltd operations
• Working within an agile team and vibrant environment to meet business requirements
• Technical and non-technical report writing, presentations, whitepaper and case study development
• Manage the project lifecycle, prepare reports, and communicate effectively with stakeholders and team members
• Dissemination of project activity in academic journal and conferences

Education, Skills & Experience

Essential:

• Minimum M.Sc./M.Eng. in Computing Science, AI, Data Science, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• Experience in programming (e.g. Python, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript).
• Experience of using Large Language Models, open-source AI libraries and frameworks
• Experience in database systems and integration (e.g. MySQL, NoSQL)
• Experience in technical writing and preparation of reports and documentation

Desirable:

• PhD. in Computing Science, AI, Data Science, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• Experience integrating LLMs within applications using APIs, prompt engineering, and fine-tuning
• Experience with Retrieval Augment Generation (RAG) and/or Agentic AI Foundation projects (e.g. Model Context Protocol (MCP), and AGENTS.md)

Benefits

• £5.5k personal development budget + access to national KTP leadership training.
• The opportunity to study for a higher degree at no extra cost during your KTP Associateship.
• Dedicated support from both academic experts and senior company leaders.
• The chance to publish academic work and attend conferences.
• Access to defined benefit contribution pension scheme (currently 19.3%), including death in service benefits upon joining the scheme.
• Employee discount scheme across 3,500 retailers.
• Free fitness facilities across our campuses.
• Access to a range of health and wellbeing resources, including occupational health, physiotherapy and access to our Employee Assistance Programme.

This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) brings together the University of the West of Scotland and JW Grant & Son Ltd, one of Scotland’s largest independent builders’ merchants with four branches across Central Scotland. The partnership will support the company’s next phase of growth by improving the flow of information, processes, and data-driven decision-making across the organisation.

The project focuses on deploying agentic ai and supporting infrastructure into JW Grant’s business environment in a secure, reliable, and scalable manner, releasing capacity, empowering staff, enhancing customer engagement and providing a platform for accelerated business growth. Using advanced AI technologies, including large language models and intelligent AI agents, the initiative will connect existing business systems and data to accelerate sales, improve customer relationships, reduce operational overheads, and support more consistent decision-making to drive innovation.