Consultant - Associate Data Scientist (AI/ML)

Independent Contractor Opportunity – Associate Data Scientist (India)

Remote / Contract Basis

Job ID : DD-11001

Open Positions: 1 (2 positions already filled)

Very

We are a U.S.-based company looking to engage an India-based independent contractor to contribute to our AI/ML research and development initiatives. This is a consultancy role, not a formal employment position, and will be governed by a consulting agreement detailing confidentiality, deliverables, intellectual property rights, and payment terms.

Key Responsibilities

As an independent contractor, your duties will include:

• Building, training, and deploying machine learning models—primarily in PyTorch—on on-prem servers.
• Running and adapting models from external sources (e.g., Kaggle, research papers) and assisting in developing original models tailored to our needs.
• Supporting large language model (LLM) projects, including experimentation, fine-tuning, and evaluation.
• Collaborating with senior engineers and data scientists to implement scalable systems.
• Performing data preprocessing, feature engineering, and experimentation pipeline setup.
• Experience with other languages (e.g., C, Verilog, VHDL) is a plus, though the primary focus will remain on Python.
• Keeping current with ML research, frameworks, and tools.

Required Qualifications

• B.Tech/BE in Computer Science, Data Science, AI, or a related field.
• 1+ years of hands-on experience in machine learning (internship experience not counted).
• Strong programming skills in Python and PyTorch.
• Familiarity with ML model training, validation, and tuning.
• Comfort with managing datasets and experimental code.
• Understanding of basic ML models (FFNNs, CNNs, RNNs, Transformers).
• Experience working on Linux-based servers and resource-constrained environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with LLM tools (e.g., Hugging Face, OpenAI, Claude, Gemini) and knowledge of prompt engineering.
• Experience with community-based model development (e.g., Kaggle).
• Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS, GCP), though primary deployment is on-prem.
• Knowledge of MLOps tools (e.g., MLflow, Weights & Biases).
• Basic understanding of C or willingness to engage with low-level systems.

Soft Skills

• Analytical thinking and attention to detail.
• Eagerness to learn and receive mentorship.
• Strong communication skills and collaborative mindset.

Compensation

• Monthly consulting fee:

  $800 – $1,200 USD

  , slightly negotiable depending on experience and interview performance.
• Contractors are responsible for any applicable taxes or regulatory filings in their jurisdiction.

Legal and Administrative Notes

• This is a contract/consulting role. You will not be an employee of the company.
• You will be expected to sign a consulting agreement covering deliverables, timelines, IP rights, confidentiality, and payment terms.
• You will be paid monthly.
• Payment will be made via international wire transfer or another mutually agreed-upon method.

Performance Tracking and Communication

To ensure accountability and maintain clear visibility into the contractor’s contributions, we will implement the following practices:

• Daily Standups: Short updates to align on progress and blockers.
• GitHub Activity Monitoring: Regular reviews of code commits and repository contributions.
• Slack Monitoring: Oversight of communication and responsiveness within designated work channels.
• Sprint-Based Reviews: Periodic evaluations aligned with project sprints to assess deliverables and progress.