Innovation AI Engineer

Job Description

Join Us

At Vodafone, we’re not just shaping the future of connectivity for our customers – we’re shaping the future for everyone who joins our team. When you work with us, you’re part of a global mission to connect people, solve complex challenges, and create a sustainable and more inclusive world. If you want to grow your career whilst finding the perfect balance between work and life, Vodafone offers the opportunities to help you belong and make a real impact.

Role Purpose:
To strengthen Vodafone’s corporate research group in the domains of artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for the following aims: i) to identify new use cases and enabling technologies where advances in AI and ML (incl. advanced genAI approaches, Agentic AI frameworks, new Foundation Models, Large and Small Language Models, Explainability etc.) can make a difference to Vodafone’s cost base and revenue opportunities. ii) to scout the market for high-impact emerging AI technologies and products and selectively evaluate them, iii) to drive the engagement with other Vodafone teams to identify new value & collaboration opportunities, iv) to explore opportunities arising from use of AI/ML e.g. in the context of AI Native Networks & Operations, Intent-based Automation, Network Digital Twins, 6G networks, Quantum Machine Learning, Revenue Management and AI-driven Pricing; v) to design and prototype cloud-based Web and AI applications to quickly demonstrate and evaluate new tech via proof of concept. vi) to influence and leverage external industry organisations like NGMN, GSMA in Vodafone’s interest. The candidate will join a multi-disciplinary research group and shall drive the collaboration with other teams inside the company and with technology partners. The successful candidate must demonstrate both a team-first attitude as well as intrapreneur skills for successful execution of collaborative project. The role requires hands-on expertise in generative AI, agentic AI, machine learning and deep learning and mastery in key development frameworks and relevant software engineering. Depending on projects the candidate will have to quickly learn about latest advances in important telecom domains like 5G and 6G networks, network automation, telco service models and pricing mechanisms, quantum computing for machine learning and others, based on latest work undertaken in relevant standards organisations and industry alliances (e.g. TMF, 3GPP, ETSI, GSMA, NGMN).

What you’ll do

Key accountabilities and decision ownership:

1. Outreach to other Vodafone units from different domains (from networks to service platform to consumer devices), identifying challenges and collaboration opportunities for applied research and innovation using advances in AI. Specification of new use cases and solutions for business stakeholders. Engaging with and convincing senior business stakeholders to achieve buy-in for collaborative project proposals and briefing them on project results in suitable forms incl. written documents (off-line and online) and multi-media formats. Engaging in community and relationship building across the company.

2. Driving assessment and evaluation of latest AI/ML technologies incl. agentic AI for a variety of application areas depending on research priorities:

• AI in 5G and 6G, autonomous networks.
• AI-driven pricing.
• Quantum Machine Learning

3. Participating in rapid prototyping & implementation of proofs of concept using state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques, frameworks and tools leveraging Google Cloud Platform. Specifying software architecture, algorithms and end-to-end technical workflows. Writing and reviewing software code, running experiments, evaluating and documenting results.

4. Scouting the market for companies including start-ups who work on highly promising new innovations related to AI and potentially of value to Vodafone.

5. Contributing / (co)leading projects in external organisations like NGMN and GSMA related e.g. to AI for network automation, autonomous networks.

Who you are

Core competencies, knowledge and experience:

1.Required technical expertise

• Proven hands-on experience in data science, machine learning, deep learning, genAI, advanced prompt engineering (e.g., via PyTorch, scikit-learn, Hugging Face).
• Implementation experience with Agentic AI frameworks LangChain / LangGraph and Google Agent Development Kit.
• Implementation experience with Google Vertex AI.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform GCP.
• Experience with cloud computing, Linux-type OS, DevOps and tools (git, GitHub)
• Good experience regarding data preprocessing techniques for ML
• Complete fluency in Python, Pandas, NumPy, and Jupyter.
• Proven expertise in designing and implementing end-to-end ML workflows, ML pipelines, from data ingestion to training, hyperparameter tuning and testing.
• Fluency in linear algebra and fundamentals of statistics and probability theory
• Proven experience in rapid prototyping and software engineering using cloud computing.

2. Desired technical expertise and references:

• BigQuery, Looker
• Knowledge of data engineering techniques
• Reinforcement Learning, Federated Learning
• Technical fundamentals of mobile networks (5G)
• Reference projects on GitHub or proven contributions to open-source software.

3. Team spirit and team-first attitude, proven ability to excel in a team role and collaboratively execute projects.
4.Good written and verbal communication and presentation skills, fluency in English. Ability and desire to communicate results to audiences of experts and senior stakeholders alike.
5. Ability to proactively drive, engage, convince, synergize, organise, create momentum and stakeholder buy-in. Project management skills. Naturally drawn to a fast-paced research lab environment with a mix of applied research, use case development, business development, system architecting, and hands-on prototyping. Ability to adapt to changing circumstances and priorities including switching focus between technical domains. A passion for machine learning and AI. Demonstrated ‘share and get feedback’ attitude: Intrinsic desire to proactively share knowledge and expertise with team members and to seek feedback, plus effectiveness in doing this.

Must have technical / professional qualifications:

• MSc or Ph.D. in one of: Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence.
• Additionally welcomed: professional training related to AI, ML (e.g. from Udacity, Coursera).

What's in it for you

• Hybrid work model
• Bonus on top of the gross salary.
• Flexible working hours from Monday to Thursday, and an intensive schedule on Fridays.
• Intensive Summer Schedule during July and August.
• Up to 20 days per year of 100% remote work from other locations.
• Private Health and Life Insurance for employees and Family
• 25 vacation days, plus December 24th and 31st off.
• Optional Pension Plan.
• Access to an online learning platform for continuous training.

#LI-Hybrid

REF: 282721

Please, apply with an English version of your CV.

Not a perfect fit?

Worried that you don’t meet all the desired criteria exactly? At Vodafone we are passionate about empowering people and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, whatever their personal or professional background. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align exactly with every part of the job description, we encourage you to still apply as you may be the right candidate for this role or another opportunity.

Who we are

We are a leading international Telco, serving millions of customers. At Vodafone, we believe that connectivity is a force for good. If we use it for the things that really matter, it can improve people's lives and the world around us. Through our technology we empower people, connecting everyone regardless of who they are or where they live and we protect the planet, whilst helping our customers do the same.

Belonging at Vodafone isn't a concept; it's lived, breathed, and cultivated through everything we do. You'll be part of a global and diverse community, with many different minds, abilities, backgrounds and cultures. ;We're committed to increase diversity, ensure equal representation, and make Vodafone a place everyone feels safe, valued and included.

If you require any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility request as part of your recruitment journey, for example, extended time or breaks in between online assessments, please refer to https://careers.vodafone.com/application-adjustments/ for guidance.

Together we can.