AI/ML Data Platform Engineer

Company Overview

At 4A Consulting, we turn complexity into opportunity. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Baltimore, MD, we are a women-owned, boutique consulting firm specializing in delivering innovative, data-driven solutions to both the Federal Government and Fortune 500 clients. Our team blends deep industry knowledge with advanced technologies to design tailored strategies that drive measurable and sustainable outcomes. We pride ourselves on an agile, collaborative approach that helps organizations navigate challenges and seize emerging opportunities in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. At 4A, we don’t just deliver projects, we build trusted partnerships that empower our clients to lead with confidence in the digital age.

Position Overview

The AI/ML Data Platform Engineer will design, build, and maintain reusable data products, pipelines, APIs, and AI-enabled data services supporting state government analytics and AI/ML initiatives. The role focuses on data integration, real-time streaming, data quality, governance, feature engineering, and ML model integration. The engineer will collaborate with data scientists, software engineers, analysts, and agency stakeholders to deliver reliable, secure, well-documented, and scalable data solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Data Products and APIs: Develop reusable datasets, feature sets, and RESTful or event-driven APIs. Implement data contracts, schema versioning, SLAs, backward compatibility, and documentation to support self-service data consumption.
• Data Pipelines and Streaming: Build and maintain ETL/ELT and streaming pipelines using Apache Kafka, AWS Kinesis, Azure Event Hubs, or equivalent technologies. Implement real-time transformations, feature generation, retries, dead-letter queues, and idempotent processing.
• Data Quality and Governance: Implement automated data quality checks for completeness, accuracy, consistency, and freshness. Maintain data catalog metadata, lineage, ownership, and usage documentation. Enforce data access controls and applicable privacy requirements, including PII protection, CJIS, and HIPAA, where relevant.
• AI-Powered Data Services: Develop and maintain ML-enabled services for entity resolution, intelligent search, anomaly detection, and data classification. Integrate model predictions and scores into data products, prepare features for ML models, and monitor accuracy, latency, and data drift.
• Monitoring and Continuous Improvement: Troubleshoot pipeline and data quality issues, support incident resolution, improve pipeline reliability, and optimize data processing performance.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Translate agency requirements into practical data solutions, document technical designs, and collaborate with data scientists, analysts, engineers, and program stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field. A master's degree or PhD is preferred but not required.
• At least five (5) years of experience in data engineering, software engineering, or ML engineering, including at least two (2) years in data product or data service design.
• Proficiency in Python and SQL, with experience developing production-quality ETL/ELT pipelines.
• Hands-on experience with cloud data platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, including Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, or equivalent services.
• Experience with streaming and messaging technologies such as Apache Kafka, AWS Kinesis, Google Pub/Sub, or Azure Event Hubs.
• Familiarity with data orchestration and transformation tools such as Apache Airflow, dbt, or Prefect.
• Understanding of data modeling, including star and snowflake schemas, medallion architecture, and data vault.
• Experience designing and developing REST APIs and working with event-driven architectures.
• Understanding of ML and deep learning fundamentals, feature engineering, data manipulation, exploratory data analysis, model evaluation, and deployment.
• Familiarity with ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or scikit-learn.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with data quality tools such as Great Expectations, Soda, or dbt tests.
• Familiarity with data catalog and lineage tools such as Apache Atlas, DataHub, or Collibra.
• Knowledge of ML feature stores such as Feast or Tecton.
• Experience integrating ML model outputs into data pipelines and data products.
• Experience with Terraform for infrastructure as code and cloud data service management.
• Experience in government, public sector, or regulated data environments.
• Understanding of applicable data governance, privacy, and security requirements.

Skills and Competencies

• Data product mindset: Builds reusable data assets with clear ownership, consumers, service expectations, and lifecycle management.
• Data quality and reliability: Prioritizes data correctness, automated testing, documentation, and pipeline health.
• Innovation: Identifies opportunities to improve data utilization and develop AI-enabled services.
• Collaboration: Works effectively with technical teams and agency stakeholders to translate business needs into data solutions.
• Communication: Produces clear technical documentation and explains data concepts to technical and nontechnical audiences.

Why Join 4A

• Be part of a mission-driven, women-owned consulting firm with a reputation for excellence.
• Work on high-impact projects across federal and commercial clients.
• Collaborate in an inclusive, growth-oriented culture where innovation is valued.
• Access career development programs, mentorship, and learning opportunities.
• Enjoy a comprehensive benefits package, flexible work options, and a focus on work-life balance.

Equal Opportunity Statement

4A Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to an inclusive hiring process. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation due to a disability may contact accommodations@4a-consulting.com. This email is intended solely for accommodation requests.

Please note that 4A Consulting participates in the federal E-Verify program. Upon hire, we will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the US. 4A Consulting will only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.