Data Scientist with Python AI / ML

Title : Data Scientist with Python AI / ML Location : Atlanta, GA (Inperson interview needed) Position type : W2 contract. Job Description : We are looking for a highly capable Technical Lead Python & AI / ML with deep expertise in backend engineering, LLM-based applications, RAG architectures, and AI agent frameworks. You will lead the design, development, and deployment of production-grade AI systems built on Python, modern LLM tooling, retrieval engines, embeddings, and vector databases. This is a hands-on leadership role focused on building scalable and intelligent AI products. Investment Banking and financial domain is needed. Key Responsibilities Lead the architecture and development of LLM-driven applications, AI agents, and RAG-based systems. Provide technical guidance, conduct code reviews, and mentor junior team members. Drive best practices in Python backend engineering, API development, and AI system design. Backend Engineering (Python) Build and maintain backend services using FastAPI or Flask. Develop scalable API endpoints for AI applications, embeddings, and retrieval systems. Ensure backend code quality, modularity, performance, and maintainability. LLMs, RAG, and AI Agent Development Build AI applications using : LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, Haystack, LlamaIndex, AutoGen Develop autonomous or semi-autonomous AI agents with tool calling and workflow graphs. Implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), embedding pipelines, chunking strategies, reranking, and grounding techniques. Work with OpenAI SDK and other LLM providers (Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, Cohere, etc. Manage prompt engineering, prompt routing, safety guardrails, and evaluation metrics. Data & Vector Search Engineering Build data pipelines for indexing, embeddings, and retrieval workflows. Work with SQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc for metadata and application storage. Work with vector databases such as : Redis, Postgres with pgvector, Elasticsearch, Neo4j, or others. Implement and optimize search workflows using FAISS or similar similarity search libraries. MLOps, Deployment & Observability Deploy AI services using Docker, container orchestration, and cloud environments. Implement monitoring for AI behavior, performance, error rates, and retrieval accuracy. Set up CI / CD pipelines for backend and AI components. Optimize inference cost, latency, and reliability. Cross-Functional Collaboration Collaborate with product, data engineering, and business teams to understand requirements. Translate business problems into scalable AI architectures and deliver practical solutions. Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, and progress to stakeholders. Required Qualifications Bachelor's / Master's degree in Computer Science, AI / ML, Data Science, or related fields. 10+ years of experience in Python backend development. Strong proficiency in FastAPI or Flask. Strong working knowledge of SQL databases (Postgres, MySQL, etc. Hands-on expertise with vector databases : Redis, Postgres / pgvector, Elasticsearch, or Neo4j. Practical experience with FAISS for similarity search. Hands-on experience with modern LLM frameworks : LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, Haystack, LlamaIndex, AutoGen. Strong understanding of : Embeddings & vector search RAG pipelines Retrieval optimization Chunking strategies Document loaders & indexing Experience building AI apps using OpenAI SDK or similar. Experience deploying APIs / services using Docker and cloud environments. Leadership experience : guiding teams, conducting reviews, driving architecture decisions.