FULL TIME
TA' XBIEX, MALTA
FULL DAY
25 September 2026
Ref: 453801

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can move fluently between evaluating open-source model benchmarks, designing cost-optimised inference stacks, and steering the business case for AI-driven transformation at the executive level.

Infrastructure & Platform -Configure and manage cloud-based AI service integrations (e.g. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) for appropriate use cases, while actively reducing third-party dependency for core operational workflows. -Deploy and operate self-hosted open-source models (e.g. Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Phi families) using serving frameworks such as Ollama or vLLM, across cloud or on-premise environments. -Design lightweight orchestration layers that connect both hosted and self-hosted AI services to internal systems, data sources, and operational workflows. -Define and enforce security, access control, and data governance standards for all AI systems — with particular attention to data residency and sovereignty when handling sensitive player and operational data. -Implement monitoring and observability across all AI integrations — tracking uptime, latency, token consumption, and cost per workflow. Model Selection & Evaluation -Maintain a structured evaluation framework for benchmarking open-source models (Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Gemma, Phi, and emerging releases) against closed-source alternatives across quality, speed, and total cost of ownership. -Default to open-source, self-hosted models for operational use cases — reserving third-party API calls for tasks where the capability gap genuinely justifies the cost and dependency. -Match model capabilities to specific business tasks — knowing when a self-hosted 8B model is the right call and when a frontier API is unavoidable. -Design retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures that ground model outputs in company data, reducing hallucination and improving task relevance. -Stay current with the rapidly evolving open-source landscape and translate new model releases into concrete operational improvements across the group. Cost Optimisation & Governance -Own the AI cost model across the group: track spend per workload, establish unit economics, and enforce budget guardrails — with open-source self-hosting as the primary lever for reducing ongoing operational cost. -Apply cost-reduction techniques including model routing (self-hosted vs. third-party tiers), prompt compression, caching strategies, and batching architectures. -Produce clear ROI reporting for each AI initiative, linking automation output to measurable business outcomes (headcount efficiency, revenue impact, risk reduction). -Build and maintain a vendor and model evaluation process that continuously challenges reliance on paid APIs — migrating workflows to self-hosted alternatives as open-source capability matures. Leadership & Collaboration -Build a lean, high-calibre automation engineering team from the ground up — defining the hiring profile, team structure, onboarding standards, and ways of working suited to a fast-moving, output-focused function. -Lead the team with a bias for delivery: set clear priorities, remove blockers, and maintain a culture where working systems ship regularly rather than ideas circulate indefinitely. -Establish engineering standards for the team covering code quality, agent design patterns, testing practices, documentation, and operational handoff. -Translate complex agentic AI concepts into clear business language for non-technical stakeholders and executive audiences.

Profiles

ISCED Level: Bachelor or equivalent - Level (6)

Competencies

Adjust and test data communication networks
Allocate and provide software and network infrastructure (allocation, new allocation)
Determine and evaluate cost of a project
Domain: automation
Assess circumstances, risks and needs for protection and security Propose tailored solutions to customer
Process and forward numeric or coded information
Determine and execute phases/procedures of technical/functional testing of IT programs/applications (plan, validate, ...)
Elaborate and formulate technical specifications for IT-applications (specifications)
Elaborate and update functional and general specifications for client
Standardise and determine functional solutions. Propose evolutions and functional extensions of IT-systems to client

Past Experience

Occupation

Experience(months)

PROGRAMMERS AND DEVELOPERS, SOFTWARE

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Salary: €50,000-90,000 per year

Head of Automation Engineering

Job Description