Design Engineer - Software, AI and Digital Tools

About Us: Outland operates to deliver ground breaking works across a diversity of fields centred around high end construction and fitout. Specialising in ultra-prime residential, we work from early feasibility and concept through design, procurement, construction, commissioning and post delivery. We take a holistic approach to the realisation of projects, with our scope ranging from coordinating ground-breaking architectural projects to designing and producing singular bespoke pieces - furniture, lighting, kinetic and sculptural elements, artworks, technical installations and custom sound systems - combining traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology. What makes Outland unusual is the way we bring design, engineering, project management, fabrication, procurement and production together under one roof. We tend to take on the difficult bits: technically demanding, highly bespoke or fast-moving problems that conventional architectural and construction workflows can struggle to resolve. Rather than simply coordinating others, we can develop ideas, prototype them, engineer them, source them, make them and carry them through to delivery. We work across an Old Street studio and a production space in London Fields, and are looking to bring both under one roof in central/east London at some point next year. The production workshop supports prototyping, sampling, mock-ups, digital fabrication and hands-on development, allowing ideas to be tested and resolved quickly and giving the team a much closer connection between design and making. Alongside our physical project work, we are building our own digital tools to coordinate projects, manage information and resources, communicate with clients and run the organisation more effectively. The Role: We are looking for a highly capable design engineer to help build and take ownership of this digital ecosystem and more widely help us leverage the latest technology in the widest sense across our work. The role sits between creative technology, software development, graphic design and technical problem-solving, and we are deliberately open-minded about the route you have taken to get there. We want someone who embraces AI-assisted development to move rapidly from idea to working application, while having enough underlying technical understanding to recognise when security, architecture, data integrity, reliability or maintainability require more rigorous engineering. AI has radically changed how software can be produced, but not the need for good design and technical judgement. From day one, the role will include understanding and taking responsibility for our existing applications, including the embryonic Outland Portal and reporting tools. The initial priority is to understand and stabilise what exists, before rapidly shifting towards new systems and opportunities. For a well-defined brief, we would aim for a working prototype within days.. Responsibilities: 1. Rapid Digital Tool & Application Development Design and develop a diversity of internal and client-facing applications, tools and prototypes. Take ideas from conversations, sketches or short briefs to functional prototypes and deployed products on short development cycles, using AI-assisted development tools extensively where appropriate. Iterate directly with the Outland team based on real-world use rather than relying on lengthy specification and development cycles. Make pragmatic decisions about when to prototype rapidly and when a system requires more rigorous engineering. Design interfaces that are beautiful, intuitive and work cleanly across desktop and mobile devices, with care for typography, layout, interaction, and loading. Actively look for problems that could be solved with software rather than waiting for fully formed briefs. Initial applications are likely to include client dashboards and reporting portals; project, task and resource-management tools; image and document systems; calendars and approval workflows; AI-assisted information tools; and small bespoke utilities that remove repetitive parts of project work. Over the first few months, help establish coherent data structures, shared components and infrastructure so that future tools can be built quickly without creating an increasingly fragmented software estate. 2. Technical Ownership & Production Quality Build and maintain frontend interfaces, backend services, databases and integrations, whether written directly or produced with AI assistance. Understand, debug and improve existing and AI-generated code, using good judgement about when to maintain, refactor or replace it without defaulting to unnecessary rewrites or premature engineering. Implement authentication, permissions and appropriate security practices. Own deployment, hosting, databases, backups and application configuration, and resolve reliability or performance issues as they arise. Document systems sufficiently that they can be understood and maintained in the future. Re