Senior AI / Data Engineer: Data Platforms, Machine Learning & Applied AI

Intertwine Associates is hiring a Senior AI / Data Engineer to support federal agencies and other clients through Azure-first data platforms and applied AI systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect and lead delivery of enterprise data platforms and pipelines on Azure (Data Lake Storage, Azure SQL, Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric / Foundry) or equivalent cloud services
• Define engineering standards for ETL design, schema enforcement, data validation, quality checks, and lineage; review other engineers’ work against those standards
• Design, build, and deploy machine learning and AI solutions, including applications using large language models such as:
  • Retrieval-augmented generation
  • Document understanding
  • Agentic workflows
• Implement evaluation approaches and guardrails for ML and LLM-based applications
• Build secure API endpoints and microservices to make data and models available to analytics and ML platforms
• Establish MLOps practices including experiment tracking, model registries, CI/CD, containers, monitoring, and cost and performance tuning
• Apply data and AI governance for compliance, reproducibility, auditability, and responsible AI, including the NIST AI Risk Management Framework
• Translate mission and business needs into technical roadmaps, estimates, and briefings for client leadership
• Mentor engineers and data scientists and lead technical work across multidisciplinary teams

Requirements

• 7+ years building data pipelines, machine learning systems, or AI applications in production, including 2+ years leading technical work
• Expert Python (including Pandas and NumPy) and advanced SQL; experience integrating relational and unstructured sources
• Deep hands-on experience with Azure data services, or equivalent depth with AWS or Google Cloud
• Production experience with ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or scikit-learn
• Experience with data validation, schema enforcement, quality assurance, and governance in regulated environments
• Experience designing APIs and microservices for analytics and ML platforms
• Strong written and verbal communication, including briefing senior non-technical audiences
• U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency may be required per contract
• Ability to obtain a federal government Public Trust or security clearance where required by the assignment

Technologies

• Azure, Data Lake Storage, Azure SQL, Azure Data Factory
• Microsoft Fabric, Foundry, Databricks, Snowflake
• Python, Pandas, NumPy, SQL
• AWS, Google Cloud
• PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn
• Retrieval-augmented generation, document understanding, agentic workflows, large language models
• APIs, microservices, MLOps, CI/CD, containers, monitoring
• NIST AI Risk Management Framework
• FedRAMP, FISMA

Additional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Experience building applications on large language models, including retrieval-augmented generation, embeddings and vector databases, evaluation, and guardrails
• Microsoft certifications such as Azure Data Engineer, Azure AI Engineer, Fabric Data Engineer, or Azure Solutions Architect, or equivalent AWS or Google Cloud certifications
• Experience with Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, or similar modern data platforms at enterprise scale
• Familiarity with FedRAMP and FISMA federal data security requirements
• Experience supporting a federal agency, or health, scientific, or research data
• An active federal Public Trust or security clearance

Location

• Mount Pleasant, SC (remote)

Compensation

• USD 130,000 - 175,000 per year (anticipated base salary range)
• May be eligible for discretionary bonuses, signing or retention incentives, or other variable compensation (not guaranteed)

Travel Requirements

• Remote role with occasional travel