Principal Machine Learning Engineer
Fully Remote - US
Principal Machine Learning Engineer
Full Time • Fully Remote - US
Benefits:
- Competitive salary
Location
Remote to start, then becomes hybrid in Raleigh, NC (relocation required; candidates able to relocate at the start of the contract are preferred, though relocation may occur upon conversion to full-time).
Experience Level
Principal Level (10+ years of experience in machine learning/AI engineering).
Role Overview
We are seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to architect, develop, and advise on end-to-end AI solutions leveraging large language models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and agentic systems. This is a senior individual contributor role for someone who wants to remain highly technical rather than move into people management, while providing technical strategy and architectural guidance to a growing data science team. The ideal candidate has played a lead role in designing and establishing a new agentic RAG-based system, with demonstrated ownership of meaningful architectural and technical decisions — not simply a contributor within a larger team.
Key Responsibilities
AI Architecture & Solution Design
Remote to start, then becomes hybrid in Raleigh, NC (relocation required; candidates able to relocate at the start of the contract are preferred, though relocation may occur upon conversion to full-time).
Experience Level
Principal Level (10+ years of experience in machine learning/AI engineering).
Role Overview
We are seeking a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to architect, develop, and advise on end-to-end AI solutions leveraging large language models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and agentic systems. This is a senior individual contributor role for someone who wants to remain highly technical rather than move into people management, while providing technical strategy and architectural guidance to a growing data science team. The ideal candidate has played a lead role in designing and establishing a new agentic RAG-based system, with demonstrated ownership of meaningful architectural and technical decisions — not simply a contributor within a larger team.
Key Responsibilities
AI Architecture & Solution Design
- Architect, develop, and advise on end-to-end AI solutions leveraging LLMs, RAG, agentic systems, and cloud-scale infrastructure.
- Construct, study, and train algorithms that learn from complex, high-dimensionality data to uncover patterns for predictive models and applications.
- Apply techniques such as random forests, deep learning, generative modeling, and neural network memory to improve NLP and machine perception algorithms.
Proof of Concept & Technology Evaluation
- Develop proofs of concept and initial implementations for new AI capabilities.
- Evaluate and test-drive new frameworks and tools to inform technical direction.
Technical Strategy & Leadership
- Work closely with architects to guide teams on AI system design and best practices.
- Provide technical strategy and stay current with industry standards in AI and machine learning.
- Understand the full environment and systems end to end, ensuring production readiness.
- Align AI system design with business and technical goals.
Required Qualifications
- Deep expertise in LLMs, RAG, and agentic systems.
- Experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and vector databases.
- Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
- Strong Python development skills and AI architecture experience.
- Experience with MLOps and software engineering best practices.
- Strong data engineering skills.
- Demonstrated experience designing, architecting, and implementing a new agentic RAG-based system, with evidence of meaningful architectural and technical decision-making (not solely as a contributor within a larger team).
- Engineering experience beyond core data science, including microservices architecture and cloud computing.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with GoLang.
- Experience working with unstructured data and document-heavy domains.
- Experience supporting or mentoring less senior data scientists/engineers as a technical lead.
Core Skills & Attributes
- Strong technical depth with a preference for remaining hands-on rather than pursuing people management.
- Proven ability to make and own architectural and technical decisions on complex AI systems.
- Strong collaboration skills, particularly working closely with architects and cross-functional teams.
- Comfortable evaluating and adopting emerging tools and frameworks.
- Excellent communication skills for translating technical strategy across teams.
- Strong end-to-end systems thinking across AI architecture and production environments.
This is a remote position.
Established in 2004, Smart Tech Skills is a top technology and professional services firm specializing in innovative technologies.
Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, the company effectively addresses clients’ technology needs nationwide, making advanced technology management easier.
Headquartered in Marlborough, MA, the company effectively addresses clients’ technology needs nationwide, making advanced technology management easier.
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