Role overview
Our client, a leader in the power sports industry, is seeking an experienced AI/ML Engineer for a 12+ month contract to hire position in Medina, MN. This role is mainly remote, but candidate must be comfortable coming into the office if needed. \*\*\*NO C2C or Sponsorship\*\*\*
**Top Technical Skills & Requirements:**
* Programming Expertise: 3+ years of hands-on experience with C# and Python, including building scalable applications and integrating ML models.
* API Development & Management: Experience designing, building, and managing RESTful API endpoints using C# (.NET) and Python (FastAPI), with a focus on performance, security, and maintainability.
* Cloud ML Deployment: Proven experience in end-to-end deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of ML models on Azure (preferred) or AWS, including CI/CD pipelines and MLOps practices.
* Deep Microsoft Azure Experience: Extensive hands-on experience with Azure services including Azure Machine Learning, Azure AI Foundry, Azure Functions, and Azure DevOps, enabling scalable and secure AI/ML solutions across enterprise environments.
* Azure AI Foundry: Practical experience leveraging Azure AI Foundry for model development, orchestration, and deployment.
* Applied Data Science: Strong background in data exploration, feature engineering, model selection, and validation across supervised and unsupervised learning tasks.
**Key Responsibilities**
* AI Solution Development & Deployment
* Architect and implement AI/ML solutions using Azure Machine Learning, Azure AI Foundry, Cognitive Services, and Azure OpenAI.
* Build and deploy NLP and LLM-based models, utilizing frameworks such as LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or LlamaIndex.
* Design and implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines using Azure AI Search to enhance generative AI capabilities.
* Develop and manage RESTful API endpoints using C# (.NET) and Python (FastAPI) to serve ML models and data services.
* Implement CI/CD pipelines and MLOps workflows using Azure DevOps and GitHub for scalable and automated model deployment.
* Leverage Terraform for infrastructure-as-code (IaC) to provision and manage Azure cloud resources in a repeatable and secure manner.
* Model Lifecycle ManagementLead end-to-end ML model lifecycle including data exploration, feature engineering, model training, validation, and deployment.
* Monitor and maintain deployed models in production environments, ensuring performance, reliability, and scalability.
* Apply best practices in model versioning, automated retraining, and performance monitoring using Azure ML and related tools.
* Quality Assurance & GovernanceConduct thorough testing and validation of AI models to ensure accuracy, reliability, and performance.
* Optimize and fine-tune models, addressing issues related to data quality, bias, and fairness.
* Stay current with industry trends and best practices in AI technology, incorporating them into solution development.
**Education & Experience**
* Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Data Science or similar (relevant work experience is acceptable)
* 3+ years of experience in AI/ML development, with a focus on OpenAI Services, NLP and LLMs.
* Experience in a consulting environment, engaging with clients and delivering tailored solutions.
**Preferred Consulting Experience**
* Collaborate with sales and delivery teams to scope and design AI solutions tailored to client needs.
* Contribute to proposal development, including technical architecture, effort estimation, and value articulation.
* Deliver technical presentations and demos to stakeholders, showcasing solution capabilities and business impact.
**Pay Rate- $50-60+/hour (flexible based on experience)**