AI and Automation Engineer

Ready to turn AI and automation into real-world solutions?

Don’t just follow what is happening in AI. Help us build what comes next.

East Kent College’s Group is looking for a curious, ambitious AI & Automation Engineer to turn emerging technology into practical solutions that make a genuine difference. You will be building intelligent workflows, developing voice AI services, connecting systems or automating processes that give staff more time to support students. This is an opportunity to experiment, create and see your ideas move quickly from concept to something that people use every day.

You’ll work with teams across our colleges to understand the problems they face and build smarter ways of solving them. Using technologies such as Power Platform, Azure, n8n, Make, VAPI and Microsoft Speech Studio, alongside AI models and APIs, you’ll develop solutions that reduce repetitive work, improve services and create better experiences for students, apprentices and staff. Just as importantly, you’ll have the freedom to explore emerging technologies, test new ideas and challenge us to think differently, while learning how to build AI solutions that are secure, responsible and ready for the real world.

You do not need to arrive with every answer. You might be a recent graduate, an aspiring developer, a self-taught builder or someone already experimenting with AI and automation in your own time. We’re interested in what you can build, how you think and how quickly you learn, not simply how many years of experience you have. If you’re the person who discovers a new AI tool, watches a tutorial and immediately wants to try building something with it, we want to hear from you.

Bring us your curiosity and ideas, and we’ll give you the opportunity to turn them into a career with real purpose and impact.

Full list of company benefits

Outstanding Ofsted Provider

East Kent Colleges Group is an Ofsted Outstanding rated provider. It is proud to be the first General Further Education college organisation in the country to have received the Outstanding grade against each of the strands under the new Ofsted inspection framework. An inclusive provider, our colleagues place our students and the communities we serve at the heart of everything they do across EKC Group and this is illustrated in our ‘Strong’ skills grading by Ofsted.

Commitment to Safeguarding

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and we ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities for upholding these principles.

As a designated establishment, we are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore have an obligation to carry out checks to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults. These checks include conviction/caution self-declaration, Enhanced DBS check and obtaining sufficient referencing.

It is a criminal offence to apply for a post which involves engaging in regulated activity relevant to children if you are barred from doing so.

If you are successful in being shortlisted to interview, your suitability to work with children and vulnerable adults will be explored as part of the interview process.

Commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

East Kent Colleges Group is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all members of our communities. We are particularly keen to increase the diversity of our staff body and encourage applications from candidates where there is underrepresentation in our workforce.

We are proud to hold the Positive About Disability Award and are a Disability Confident Employer. This confirms our commitment to interviewing all applicants who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. With any successful candidate, we will explore any reasonable adjustments to a role due to a health needs or disability.

Similarly, we have a commitment to Care Leavers (Care Covenant Pledge) and to current or previous Armed Forces personnel (Armed Forces Covenant Pledge) with a commitment to interview applicants who meet the positions essential criteria and who have declared this on their application. 

We welcome applications from anyone wishing to work flexibly and those considering a return to work from a career break.

We do not engage with agencies for permanent staff and have an in-house recruitment team.