Job Title: Senior Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineer
Salary: The starting salary is £55,662, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.
The salary is broken down as £52,653 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £57,417. Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.
Location: Sydenham
London is one of the world's most diverse and dynamic cities. Policing it requires innovative technology and highly skilled people to support frontline operations.
The Role
As a supervisor of the Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Engineering Team, you’ll play a crucial part in protecting London. You’ll be part of our talented, tight-knit team, helping to deploy LFR solutions for frontline policing operations. As we expand our capability, we now have a vacancy for this exciting role. No prior experience of LFR systems is required as full training will be given, however a basic understanding of the capability would be helpful.
You’ll be joining a friendly and highly collaborative team of around 50 engineers, responsible for designing, developing, building and deploying a wide range of technical solutions, primarily supporting surveillance and operational policing activities. Within this wider function, you’ll work as part of the Live Facial Recognition (LFR) Team, supporting a cutting- edge capability at the forefront of modern policing. Working alongside a dedicated group of 10 LFR engineers, you’ll help deploy, maintain and enhance systems that provide critical operational support to frontline officers and help keep London safe.
We are seeking a Senior LFR Engineering to lead a small specialist team responsible for the development, testing, deployment and maintenance of LFR technology and associated equipment. This is a hands-on technical leadership role, combining operational support, engineering expertise and people management. You will oversee the delivery of specialist technology used in frontline policing operations and support the ongoing development of our LFR capability across London. This is very much a deployment role and full UK driving licence is essential with a willingness to obtain C1/D1. A key aspect of the role is the management and future development of our fleet of specially adapted operational vehicles. Experience in vehicle technologies, including DC/AC power systems, battery management or related engineering disciplines, would be advantageous to help support our specialist deployment vehicles.
Flexibility to work outside standard business hours when required. This is a deployment role and there will be an expectation on you to typically work two evenings each week and occasionally weekends. You will be compensated accordingly.
We offer in return
Joining the Met means building a career with purpose, stability and real development, supported by a strong benefits package designed for long‑term growth and wellbeing.
- Annual salary progression
- Excellent pension scheme (MPS contribution up to 29%)
- Generous leave entitlement – 28 days rising to 33 days after 5 years, plus bank holidays
- Clear development pathways – apprenticeships, funded qualifications and internal promotion
- Ongoing training and free funded courses and qualifications
- Enhanced family support, including maternity, parental leave and childcare assistance
- Financial wellbeing support, including interest‑free season ticket, rental deposit and childcare loans
- Access to Met sports and social clubs
Additional Information
This role does not attract Shift Disturbance Allowance. If you are currently in a shift-working role, SDA should cease upon appointment to this job.
Vetting
This post requires access to the most sensitive intelligence material on a daily basis. Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Security Check (enhanced) (SC(e)) level before taking up the post.
To streamline our recruitment process, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.
How to apply
To begin your career at the Met, please click the "apply button “. The application process requires a comprehensive CV, a Personal Statement, and an online application form. In your Personal Statement, you provided a short overview of your leadership experience and technical skillet evidence (no more than 1 side of A4 format page). Please note that you should not submit two copies of your CV, and ensure that your documents are saved in either PDF or Word format, clearly labelled as CV and/or Personal Statement.
Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 20th October 2026.
Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager.
Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview.
