A bit about us: Established in 1994, The Fragrance Shop is the UK’s leading independent fragrance retailer. Our aim is to make mainstream and luxury fragrances affordable and accessible to all. We showcase more than 130 fragrance brands in over 220 stores throughout the UK and online at www.thefragranceshop.co.uk. We are expanding and are looking for a Integration & AI Automation Engineerto join the team and be part of a growing and vibrant brand.
Why you’ll love working here:
- Enjoy work-life balance with our flexible working scheme - including 15 work from home days a year, duvet days and the choice to flex your working hours.
- Vibrant state-of-the-art office, conveniently located in Trafford Park with great transport links and free onsite parking
- No need to travel to the gym – we have one here for you! Take advantage of our free onsite gym facilities before/after work or even pop in at lunch time
- Generous staff discounts on a wide range of fabulous fragrances
- Excellent progression and development opportunities - work with teams who are passionate about what they do and develop your expertise within a creative and collaborative space
Job Purpose
We are seeking a highly skilled Integration & AI Automation Engineer to design, build, and maintain our next-generation integration layer. In this role, you will move beyond traditional point-to-point integration, leveraging n8n and advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) to build autonomous AI agents, intelligent workflows, and robust data pipelines. You will be responsible for connecting our core retail systems (eCommerce, ERP, OMS, and CRMs) with cutting-edge AI orchestration layers to drive operational efficiency, intelligent customer service resolutions, and real-time data automation.
Key Responsibilities
1. Workflow Automation & Orchestration (n8n)
- Architect, deploy, and optimize scalable, asynchronous workflows using n8n (self-hosted Cloud environments).
- Build advanced workflows utilizing n8n’s Advanced AI nodes, utilizing LangChain concepts, vector stores, and custom tool creation.
- Implement rigorous error handling, custom fallback routing, and alert mechanisms within n8n to ensure zero data loss across business-critical pipelines.
- Write custom JavaScript/TypeScript snippets within data transformation nodes to handle complex payloads and data normalization.
2. AI Engineering & LLM Integration
- Integrate foundation models (OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source models) via API into live production workflows.
- Design, test, and version-control complex system prompts, steering autonomous agents to operate reliably within strict enterprise guardrails.
- Implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines by connecting vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Qdrant, Milvus) to supply AI agents with real-time operational context.
- Build and maintain Human-in-the-Loop (HILA) approval layers to seamlessly route high-uncertainty AI outputs to human operational queues (via Slack, Teams, or CRM webhooks).
3. API & Core Systems Integration
- Develop custom, reusable n8n nodes or robust HTTP request architectures to interface with major retail enterprise platforms (e.g., Shopify Plus, Microsoft Business Central, Zendesk, or custom 3PL APIs).
- Ensure high-performance data syncing between real-time webhooks, relational databases, and distributed event streams.
- Optimizse API token usage, monitor latency, and implement intelligent rate-limiting strategies to control third-party LLM costs.
Technical Skills & Qualifications
Required Experience
- n8n Mastery: Minimum 2+ years of hands-on experience building complex production-grade workflows in n8n. Deep understanding of sub-workflows, merge strategies, wait states, and webhook handling.
- AI/LLM Execution: Proven track record of deploying LLMs into business processes. Experience with function-calling/tool-use paradigms where an LLM dynamically chooses to call backend APIs.
- Programming: Strong proficiency in Node.js / JavaScript / TypeScript and/or Python.
- API Architecture: Deep expertise in RESTful APIs, webhooks, JSON data manipulation, authentication protocols (OAuth2, API Keys), and GraphQL.
- DevOps & Infrastructure: Solid understanding of hosting n8n securely (Docker, AWS, or similar cloud infrastructure) and setting up relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL).
Nice-to-Have
- Experience in an enterprise Retail or eCommerce environment (understanding of Order Management Systems, ERP inventory flows, and customer ticketing data models).
- Familiarity with vector embeddings, tokenization metrics, and optimizing prompt token windows.
- Experience with other integration tools (Make, Zapier, MuleSoft) for comparative architecture decisions.
Core Competencies & Soft Skills
- The Automation Mindset: A passion for identifying friction points in operational workflows and designing automated, scalable fixes.
- Problem-Solving: Ability to debug non-deterministic AI outputs and construct predictable, deterministic safeguards around generative features.
- Clear Communicator: Able to act as a bridge between technical infrastructure and operational leaders to translate business rules into system prompts.
Reports To: Technology Director / Head of Engineering
How to apply:
Simply upload your CV via our careers page.
Join us now and help shape the future of fragrance retail!
The Fragrance Shop is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
Due to the high volume of applications that we receive, we are regrettably not able to respond to everyone. If you have not heard from us within four weeks of your application, please assume that on this occasion you have not been successful.
